The Unown Saga
by CellarDoor96
Summary: When three are one, one will come... We are. We are unknown, at least to you humans. We are the Unown. Here is the story of an Unown who saves two worlds from evil. Pairings are Mew/Deoxys and Latias/Rayquaza. Now fully revised.
1. Politics

I do not own Pokemon or the characters' species, but I do own the characters.

**Chapter 1 – Politics**

We are.

We are unknown – to you, that is.

We are the Unown.

At least, that's what they call us, the beings who call themselves humans. They inhabit another world. You're one of them, aren't you? They have a need for names, for something to identify something else. As if they or that something don't know what they are.

We need no names, no words. Still, I'll give names to everything so your name-oriented mind can understand.

Your world, the humans' world, operates in four dimensions. I believe you call them length, width, depth, and time. Our world has six dimensions. It's difficult to explain to someone from a four-dimensional universe, but it's like squaring time and squaring the result.

Anyway, I'll call myself Orian for your benefit. I heard it from one of the ones who went to your universe. Although I didn't really "hear" it. We convey our thoughts by broadcasting them, and then we know the other's intent. But I'll write it as words, so you can understand.

I am the one who was appointed by the two great kings, known to the humans as Palkia and Dialga, to make major decisions in their absence.

This was one of those times when both were absent.

They had gone to your world a while – a month in your time, perhaps? – ago and had not yet returned. I began to wonder why they did not return to alleviate my increasingly difficult task.

"We must close contact with the humans! They seek to enslave us."

"No," I replied, "they only wish to befriend us. And besides, the Founder commanded us to watch over their world."

The Council of Advisors had brought another proposal that I had to avoid.

"Befriend?! Not a single one has even attempted to enter our world. And the Founder is gone."

Some of the assembly voiced their agreement with Aaran. I had to stop this.

"We still must obey the Founder's command. It is our reason for being."

Aaran continued. "Every day, some of us venture into their world. Many do not return. And now, they have taken our kings."

I knew he would get around to them eventually.

"The humans are not capable of it," I returned. "They have no power."

But I underestimated Aaran.

"Why would the kings abandon us? In the humans' world, beings will cease to live if they are there for too long. They call it 'death'. This is what has happened to our kings; they are dead."

The equivalent of a gasp was broadcast from the rest of the council.

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"I went into the humans' world to look for them and saw it happen. They were attacked by the humans and killed."

"Show us proof," I demanded.

I realized later that I had fallen right into Aaran's trap.


	2. A Warm Welcome

**Chapter 2 – A Warm Welcome**

"Have you ever gone to the humans' world?" Aaran asked in return.

"No."

"Then let me tell you that there is no proof that I could bring back short of their bodies, and that is impossible due to the limitations of that world. So, to get your proof, you will have to go to it. And if the kings are not alive, then their appointments are null."

I suddenly realized where he was going.

"And if they are, then you, Orian, will have the pleasure of bringing them back."

"You have no right to—"

"You are no longer in charge here, Orian. At least, not until you find your proof."

And, just like that, a tear opened in the dimensions around me, pulling me through.

~.~

I was unaware of anything until suddenly I was in a small room. It was dark, but I could tell where I was easily enough. I was in the world of humans.

I couldn't tell what form I had taken, either. When we travel to the humans' universe, we must take a four-dimensional form. However, I had a hard time seeing out of my one visual receptor, so I couldn't see myself. All I knew was that my new form was flat and not very flexible.

What had happened? Why was I here?

Then I remembered. Aaran had sent me here. I had to get back to my world. The only problem was, I had never been to this world before, so I had no idea how I had gotten here or how to return.

I suddenly registered a motion in the room. Something was there with me. It performed an action, causing the air to vibrate, which I discovered later was called "talking" and was the main form of communication among humans. The human, for that was what I now figured it was, released a light from a small spherical object. The light coalesced into another object, smaller than the human.

The human made another noise that I didn't understand, and the small object began moving. I unconsciously began floating off the floor of the room. I realized that I was moving, and I started heading toward an opening in the wall, ignoring the human, who I did not see as a threat.

Then I was hit by a dozen small, sharp objects. My body began to feel strange. I didn't like the feeling, so I turned and noticed more of the sharp objects flying at me from the smaller object that had come from the light. I instinctively used my new form's defense capabilities, causing light to pour from me, destroying the sharp objects in midair and hitting the small object that was their source. This object fell backward and disappeared into the small sphere that the human held, where it had come from.

I turned back to the opening, wondering if it led to my own world. I passed through, to emerge into a larger room. Upon looking around the room, I noticed many openings similar to the one I had passed through.

Suddenly, I was struck out of the air by another object, though it was much larger than the small sharp things that had hit me before. I released my light again to counter it, and this newer threat fell and stopped moving. Like last time, it disappeared in a beam of light into another spherical object held by the same human. What could the human possibly want with me, when I had just arrived? Was it true what Aaran had said about the humans?

I noticed that one of the openings had light coming in through it, so I promptly headed for that one.

When I saw what was through that opening, I came to the sudden realization that the place I had emerged into was only a small structure erected by the humans.

Their world was far stranger than I had ever imagined.

Everywhere there were small, long, and flat objects sticking up out of the ground. Several large structures towered above my new form, tall and thin but with what appeared to be smaller versions of themselves sticking out horizontally from them. They were dotted with the same sharp objects that had attacked me right after I had arrived.

Above me was a large expanse of… something. In it were fluffy things and a small point that radiated light. Although, I didn't really know how large they were, because I couldn't tell how far away from me they were. I wasn't yet used to this world's dimensions.

And scattered around the ground were things that vaguely resembled the human.

I hesitated in the opening, wondering if they were humans, too, and if they would react like the other one.

That was when I was attacked from behind by something sharp and pointy.

This wasn't my day.

I used my defense measures, like before, but to my surprise, the light that I radiated didn't seem to affect my assailant. Instead, it poked at me again with the sharp and pointy thing, causing that strange feeling from before to become even worse. I figured out now that this feeling meant that something was wrong with my physical form.

I tried again, but unfortunately I couldn't do anything against this attacker, which had by now knocked me to the ground outside. The human came out of the opening that I had just been knocked from and made another noise. Light came from the thing that had been repeatedly jabbing me. Something was strange about this light, but I didn't dwell on it.

The enemy thing stopped poking me when it dispensed this light, so I took the opportunity to float upward and away from it as fast as I could.

I didn't get far, though, before the strange light caught up with me. It entered my physical form, causing that feeling to erupt once again. I immediately fell to the ground and knew no more.


	3. Brandon

**Chapter 3 – Brandon**

Aaron smiled. The shiny Unown M had given him some trouble, fainting first his Roselia and then his Machop, but then he'd guessed that its attack was Psychic type and used his Murkrow. He'd guessed correctly, and after the Unown had been unable to harm his Murkrow, Night Shade had finished it off.

He threw a Great Ball at the shiny Unown, which was lying on the ground in front of him, its one eye closed.

"Stop!"

The Great Ball was deflected mid-flight. A Staravia flew from where it had deflected the Great Ball to land in front of the Unown, standing protectively in front of it.

Aaron spun towards the source of the voice, to see another boy walking towards him, anger in his eyes. The newcomer was wearing a red hat and navy-blue jacket, with matching jeans. A yellow backpack was on his back, and he appeared to be roughly thirteen years old.

"What are you doing?!" Aaron demanded.

"You can't catch a Pokemon after you've fainted it," the other boy said.

"Who says?"

"The Sinnoh League."

"I don't care about the Sinnoh League," Aaron spat angrily. "That's a rare shiny Unown and I'm going to catch it. Now move your Starly."

The Staravia squawked at him. The other boy, its trainer, replied coolly, "She's a Staravia, not a Starly. And she's not moving until you leave."

"Oh yeah? I'll just have to make her," returned Aaron, throwing a Poke Ball.

A red light flashed from it, and a Pachirisu emerged.

"Pachirisu, Spark!"

Pachirisu began charging its body with electricity until it glowed, then charged at Staravia.

A grey boulder rolled into Pachirisu. Pachirisu lost its charge instantly and flew several feet. Once it hit the ground, it picked itself up unsteadily.

"No fair! Only one Pokemon at a time in normal battles!"

The other trainer stared at Aaron. "Who says?"

"The Sinnoh League."

"Right. I thought you didn't care about them? And Kalani isn't battling, she's guarding."

The boulder unrolled itself to reveal a Graveler.

Aaron realized that Pachirisu's Electric attacks were useless against Graveler, a Ground type. "Quick Attack!"

Pachirisu dashed at Graveler and slammed into it ineffectively.

"Halle, use Magnitude."

Halle, who was the Graveler, stomped the ground, causing it to tremble under Pachirisu. The ground became soft and began to break up underneath it. I tried to jump into the air, but then one of Halle's four hands came down and knocked it back down. The ground stopped shaking, and Aaron saw to his dismay that Pachirisu was unconscious. He numbly recalled it.

A smattering of applause came from the ring of trainers who had been watching the battle, causing the winner to turn slightly red. He then faced Aaron, who was apparently in shock that he had been beaten.

"You should leave now."

Aaron stared at him and asked, "Who are you?"

The other boy looked him in the eye and declared, "I am Brandon."

Aaron wordlessly walked away. The crowd parted for him.


	4. Interference

Chapter 4 – Interference

**Chapter 4 – Interference**

I slowly became aware of my surroundings. I was lying on a flat surface, with a lot of things that I didn't recognize. The air above me was strangely distorted.

I tried to float to an upright position, only to bump into an almost invisible barrier above me. I then tried to float sideways, to see if I could go around it, only to encounter the same barrier on the sides. I was completely enclosed.

I began to panic. I unleashed my attack, and the barrier broke into small pieces. I instinctively covered my eye.

The pieces were sharp, and though they didn't penetrate me, they still set off that feeling again.

I floated up and righted myself, and I felt all of the sharp barrier pieces slide off of me.

Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, and I whirled to see another opening in the wall where one wasn't before. Two humans entered the room and began making noises.

One of them held up a spherical object similar to the ones that the other one had. I floated away from it, since they appeared to be weapons of some kind, and I had no desire to be attacked again. The other one began to approach me. I couldn't harm them, no matter what they did to me, because that was the Founder's strict instruction. So, I decided to try to communicate with them.

I broadcast that I didn't want to fight them. But they didn't seem to understand me, because something to my left started making noises, and they turned what appeared to be their visual receptors towards it. However, as soon as I stopped broadcasting, the noises from the object stopped.

This was interesting.

I repeated it, and the same thing happened. That meant that it likely wasn't a coincidence, so this thing could somehow understand me and translate my broadcasting into the humans' method of communication, which appeared to be noises.

Unfortunately, it appeared that they couldn't understand it either.

So, I tried to see if they were broadcasting, and, to my surprise, they were. But their broadcasts were not as active as mine, seeming more passive, or unconscious. I analyzed their broadcasts anyway, and though I couldn't read their intent, there was enough information to help me figure out how to somewhat understand their noises and alter my broadcasts enough so that I could make the object translate correctly.

"I… ga…nem…lor…" was what the makeshift translator had to say for itself.

Judging by the humans' reactions, this didn't make any sense to them.

"What's wrong with the radio?" one of the humans said. I didn't understand half of this, but it was better than nothing.

"I don't know," the other one said. "It was working fine this morning." I understood slightly more of this, but what did "working", "fine", and "morning" mean?

The one who had just spoken went over to the aforementioned translator, while the other one, who was holding the sphere, stayed where it was.

"You might want to stay away from the Unown," the human with the sphere said. "I think it's afraid of us."

I moved away from the one that was approaching the translator, while still broadcasting.

"Why… you… hur… me… I…" the translator said.

"Wait, it sounds like words," said one of the humans. "That doesn't sound like interference…" I had no idea what "sound" or "interference" meant, but it appeared that they were beginning to understand me.

"No… fit… fite… you…" the translator translated my broadcast as. The human next to my translator began to move parts of it, and it stopped making noises. They couldn't hear me anymore.

"It stopped," the human with the sphere observed. I understood this, somewhat.

"I guess it's only on that channel, but that's weird," the other one said. Suddenly the object began making noise again.

"I am… here… help…" it said.

The humans looked around, wondering about the source of this noise.

I floated over to the one who looked less threatening (in other words, the one without the sphere) and looked at it, while at the same time broadcasting through the translator, "I see… you…"

The human looked at me and appeared to finally understand. "It's the Unown! It's communicating through the radio."

The other human put away the sphere, to my relief, and asked, "Can it understand us, too?"

"I don't know," the one near the translator replied.

"Can you understand me?" the human farther from me asked, looking at me. I understood that it was addressing me.

"Yes," my translator told the humans.

"This is amazing," the one closer to me said. I wasn't sure what that meant.

"What's wrong?" the other one asked. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was talking to me.

What was wrong? Lots of things were wrong. I was stuck in this world, the kings were gone, Aaran was most likely seizing power, and I had been assaulted and captured during my short time here. Unfortunately, I didn't yet have the fluency to tell them so.

"Trapped…" the translator said.

"Trapped?" the first human, the one farther away, said. "Trapped where?"

I tried. "World… this… not home…"

The human closer to me asked, somewhat rhetorically, "You're not from this world?"

I answered anyway. "Yes." Didn't they know where we came from?

"That's amazing," the second one said again. I still didn't know what "amazing" meant.

The other one, however, apparently caught on. "You want to get back to your world?"

"Yes."

"I'll help you, then."

That was how I came to know Brandon.


	5. New Allies

**Chapter 5 – New Allies**

Brandon was my only friend ever since I had entered his world. He was what was known as a "Pokemon trainer", or one who raises various creatures called "Pokemon". It's strange, because I thought humans were the only living things to inhabit their world.

Brandon taught me about his world, and I told him a little about mine. He took to wearing a smaller version of the translator, or what I now knew as a "radio", at all times so that we could communicate. After I asked him what a "sky" was, he also took to carrying a small book that contained the meanings of various words.

We stayed for the rest of that day in the structure he called a Pokemon Center and decided to try to find me a way back home the next day.

Before that, he introduced me to the Pokemon he was raising.

"This is Ara, my Castform," he told me, indicating a white blob that had taken up residence on his shoulder. It made a noise. "Her mood generally changes with the weather; on rainy days she gets depressed." He took out another of the spheres that he called "Poke Balls" and with a flash of light, a large, flattish, round thing appeared. It had two bushes growing on its back, somewhat surprisingly.

"This is Dagan, my Grotle. He was my first Pokemon." Dagan moved toward me and began sniffing me. I floated away skittishly.

Next, he showed me what appeared to be a large rock with six protuberances. "Halle, the Graveler. He was the Pokemon I used to save you from that trainer." Halle, like the other rocks I had seen, didn't move.

Brandon then called out a Pokemon that looked like the birds I had seen flying above. "This is Kalani, my Staravia. She was the one who protected you from the trainer's Poke Ball." Kalani made a noise and flew up to perch on the desk, startling the human who was working there.

"Here's my Roselia, Budd. I named him Budd because he was a Budew when I found him," he said, indicating a Pokemon that looked suspiciously like the one that had attacked me when I first arrived. I instinctively shied away from him, while Budd on the other hand completely ignored me, turning instead to face his trainer.

"And now here's Aegeus, my Wobbuffet. He was raised from an egg, like Ara, and he likes to think a lot. He's slow, but he gets things done. Eventually." Brandon laughed. Aegeus thought for a while, looked at me, thought some more, and then made a noise.

When Brandon didn't bring out any more Pokemon, I asked, "Are there any more?"

He jumped slightly, because he still wasn't used to having me talk into his ear. He thought for a second, then he responded, "Yes, I have lots more, but these are the only ones I mainly use. The others are stored away."

"Where are they stored away?"

"In a computer, it's something that stores information. Pokemon can be broken down into information and stored."

"Oh."

Brandon looked around the room for a few seconds. We were in the main room of the Pokemon Center, where all the trainers would wait for their Pokemon to be repaired. I noticed that there was less light coming through the window.

Finally, he spoke. "It's getting late. Why don't we get to the hotel now?"

"Hotel?"

He took off his hat and sighed. "Yeah, it's a place where we go to sleep when we have nowhere else to go."

"Sleep?"

He sighed again, probably because I was asking so many questions. "It's when we just sort of shut down, and recharge. No one really know why, just that we have to in order to survive."

"Okay." I didn't really know what "survive" was, but I didn't want to bother him any more, and I got the gist of what he was saying.

"Let's go, then." With that, he recalled his Pokemon, and we set off for the "hotel".


	6. Cresselia

Chapter 6 – Cresselia

**Chapter 6 – Cresselia**

The next day, Brandon and I left the hotel for the place where I had first entered this world. Brandon called it the "Solaceon Ruins" because, according to him, it was ruined, and it was near a place called "Solaceon Town". He said it was where all of my kind appeared in this region, and it seemed like the safest bet for getting me back home. I didn't really know why Brandon was helping me, as there was nothing in it for him, but when I had pointed this out he said that he "had nothing better to do".

It didn't take very long for us to reach our destination, and before much time had passed, we were standing before the Solaceon Ruins. I had discovered along the way that because I was with Brandon, none of the other humans attacked me. However, they did stare at me, probably because my new form had what Brandon called "unique coloration".

Before we entered the Ruins, Brandon turned to me and asked a few questions.

"Do you remember where you might have entered this world, such as a portal?"

I tried to remember. "No, not that I remember. But I wasn't paying much attention then, either."

He sighed. "That could make things more difficult. If there was a portal, we could just find it and send you through. How did you get here?"

"I was sent here by…" He wouldn't understand who I was talking about unless I gave him a name. He had told me about the other trainer who had attacked me, so I decided to use that trainer's name and tweak it a little. "…by Aaran."

He looked at me, surprised. "Aaron? That trainer?"

"No, Aaran is one of my kind. We have no names, so I decided to name him that."

"Oh." Brandon looked thoughtful. "Why did he send you here?"

"Most likely, to get me out of his way while he gained control of our world. He made the excuse that I was supposed to find our two kings."

"Oh, so you need to either get back there and stop him, or find your kings."

"Exactly. But I have no idea where they could be found."

"So, you should probably just go back and stop him."

"Yes."

"How do your kind always get back anyway?"

"I don't know. I've never been to this world before."

"Well, in that case, let's see if we can't find out."

We entered the Solaceon Ruins and looked around. It was made of stone, and it appeared to be very old and in a state of disrepair. Columns had collapsed in some places. To top it all off, the whole place had a gloomy atmosphere from the small amount of light entering through the entrance, which we had just entered through. See, I'm getting better with the descriptions.

Brandon looked at the many openings in the walls. "Which one did you come from?"

"I don't know."

"Well," he sighed, "let's look for clues. You said a Roselia attacked you with sharp leaves?"

"That's right."

"Well, then let's see if we can find any of those leaves."

"It will not help you."

Brandon and I both spun around to face the person who had just spoken. To my surprise, and to Brandon's, too, judging by the look on his face (I had gotten better at judging humans' moods since I had arrived), the speaker was not a human. It looked vaguely like one of those birds, but it had purple, yellow, and blue skin, with small purple arms tucked in at its sides, and strangely translucent purple ribbons around it. (I bet you thought I didn't know about colors, ha.) It was floating in the air in the entranceway we had just walked through. On top of its head was a yellow crest in the shape of a crescent.

"Cresselia…" Brandon looked like he was going into shock. I wondered what was wrong with him.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Cresselia isn't supposed to be real," he answered.

That confused me somewhat. "Why not?"

"Cresselia is a myth."

The creature he called Cresselia looked at him and asked, "Do I look like a myth?" The voice seemed to be in my mind, but I knew it came from Cresselia.

Brandon gave a sort of gulp. "…No…"

Cresselia nodded. "That's good, because if I was a myth, I wouldn't be able to give you the warning I am about to give you." It looked at me, and its purple eyes seemed to glow. "Orian, your kings, Dialga and Palkia, are in danger. You will not be able to return until you find them. Visit the three lakes and obtain what they have been guarding…"

Suddenly Cresselia began glowing white, and it gradually faded. As it faded, I barely heard the words, like a faint echo, "When three are one, one will come…"

Brandon stared for a moment, then turned to me. "I guess we need to go to the lakes now."

"Okay," I said. Then, a moment later, "What lakes?"


	7. The Broken Stone Tower

Chapter 7 – The Broken Stone Tower

**Chapter 7 – The Broken Stone Tower**

We set out for a place called "Hearthome City" shortly after planning our course of action. Brandon said that there were three large lakes in this region, and that must have been what Cresselia meant. The closest one was "Lake Valor", but due to a rockfall that blocked the road between "Solaceon Town", where we were now, and "Veilstone City", the closest settlement to our destination, we would have to take a more circuitous route. We would have to pass through the aforementioned Hearthome City and then go south to "Pastoria City", before finally traveling to the northeast toward the lake.

As we traveled through the route that would lead to Hearthome City, Brandon walking and I floating, I noticed a tall structure that appeared to be man-made poking through the tops of the trees ahead of us.

"That's the Lost Tower," Brandon responded after I asked about it. "It's a place where Pokemon are buried when they die."

"Die?"

"When something dies, it just, sort of stops living. It happens to everyone, sooner or later."

This was interesting. Could it be true what Aaran said? I wondered in the back of my mind if it was true what he had said about our kings. Could they have "died"? Cresselia had said they were in danger, and they had to be alive to be in danger. But what could I possibly do against a danger that even the two great kings couldn't face?

"Look, you can just barely make out the Broken Stone Tower, the twin of the Lost Tower," Brandon said, pointing to what appeared to be a pile of stones in the distance.

"It doesn't look like the Lost Tower," I told him.

"It fell apart a long time ago. No one knows why, but there are stories."

"What kinds of stories?"

"Some people say that something was sealed away there, and it was sunk into the ground to keep it from being released. Others say that it was haunted by ghosts, so it was abandoned and it fell apart with age."

By this time we were pretty close to the Broken Stone Tower, and suddenly I thought I saw a movement by it. "What's that?"

I floated ahead of Brandon to investigate. He ran after me, calling "What's what?"

I arrived at the Tower, but it just looked like a pile of stones. Brandon caught up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I thought something was moving, but there's no one here." Just then I caught sight of a strange-looking stone amid the ruins. It had two holes and several cracks in it that gave it the appearance of a face. It appeared to be staring straight at me.

Brandon followed the gaze of my one eye and saw it, too. "That's strange, it doesn't look like it could have gotten the eyes by accident." He picked it up.

Suddenly he shivered. A whisper of a voice in my head said, _help me… don't leave me…_

A sudden gust of wind blew past me and Brandon. It made a strange sound as it passed through the stones, being warped to sound almost like mocking laughter…

Almost…

Then the stone Brandon was holding began to cry. I am serious. Noises that sounded like many humans crying began to come from it. Brandon stared for a second and then threw it back at the tower.

As it flew through the air, a cacophony of shrieks and laughs began to come from all of the stones of the Broken Stone Tower. I drifted away, wondering if this was normal. Judging by Brandon's frozen expression, it wasn't.

The strange stone hit the Tower, bounced once, and landed, fitting perfectly into a slot that could have been made for it. And probably was.

Its eye-like markings began to glow purple. Green and purple danced within the depths of its cracks. The chorus from the stones heightened in volume until green and purple lights and a transparent, gas-like substance emerged from the eyes and cracks of the stone. They began swirling around it like a vortex, and in the center was a grinning mockery of a human face, with green eyes and a mouth. The noises from the stones of the ruined tower faded, ending with one last heartrending sob.

The face looked at us and grinned. Suddenly the stone pulled itself out of the slot and began to float toward us, trailing wisps of whatever made up the face behind it. Brandon looked frozen.

"Move!" I projected loudly into his earphone. I used my attack against the floating stone, but unfortunately it wasn't fazed.

Brandon woke up and began running away. The floating stone turned to me and blew a gust of wind at me which began to sap my strength. Then it turned and chased after Brandon.

"Brandon, it can float. It will chase you forever," I told him as I began to sink back to the ground. "You need to… fight… it…"

Then I stopped floating altogether as my weakened body hit the ground and blacked out.


	8. Hearthome

**Chapter 8 – Hearthome**

Brandon stopped running. Orian was right. It _would_ chase him forever, unless he fought it. He turned and saw the stone with the grinning face amid swirling purple and green clouds bearing down on him. He almost lost his nerve and ran, but not quite. He reached for a Poke Ball and released Dagan from it.

Dagan looked at his master and at the thing that was coming after them, and instantly took in the situation. He sent sharp leaves from the bushes on his back in the direction of the floating stone, and they impacted, causing tiny scratches in the rock.

The stone, however, did not take kindly to this, and it sent a gust of chilled wind in Dagan's direction. The wind began to sap Dagan's strength, but before it did much, Dagan shot a small seed from one of its bushes that began rooting into the rock.

Suddenly the sound of many voices shrieking, laughing, and whispering reached Brandon's ears again. _Help us… Free us…_

He winced and called out, "Good job, Dagan!"

Dagan was then hit by a pulse of black light that the strange stone sent toward him. He looked dazed and his eyes began to flutter.

"Don't give up!" Brandon encouraged his Pokemon. But then Dagan was sent flying by another gust of the strange wind, and Brandon recalled him. He selected another Poke Ball.

"Star! Help me out!"

Star flew at the floating, grinning stone. It blew a gust of wind at her, but she wasn't affected. She was about to smash into it, but then it suddenly grew an extension of the swirling mass and struck at her with it, sending her careening backwards. Star flapped her wings frantically to right herself as she tumbled through the air.

The ghostly stone followed it up with another of the pulses of black light, which knocked Star to the ground.

"You can do it, Star!"

Star lay on the ground weakly, being barraged by pulse after pulse of the black light. Brandon decided to recall her.

"Come back, St--!?"

Star began to glow and change shape, becoming larger. She stood up and flapped her glowing wings, dispersing the light, and Brandon saw what had happened. Star had evolved into a Staraptor!

Star flapped her now larger wings and took off, neatly dodging the pulse of light coming her way and diving at the stone. It grew another extension and tried to hit her with it, but she spun out of the way and snapped with her beak at the small vine that was growing in one of its cracks.

The stone froze, and Brandon heard screaming from inside the stone. Then Star pulled on the vine.

The vine was ripped out of the stone, and as it left, the stone crumbled behind it.

The green face laughed amid the purple cloud, and then it spread out and began to thin. Shrieks of glee met Brandon's ears as the face spread out in front of him, becoming gradually larger and more transparent. Star flew back to him to land by his side.

Brandon covered his ears as the shrieks increased in volume, until the face faded and completely dispersed.

As it faded, he thought he could hear a faint voice, calling to him. _Thank… you…_

~.~

I awoke to motion. I opened my eye and looked up at Brandon, who was carrying me.

"What… happened?"

"We won."

"Good."

I closed my eye.

~.~

The next time I woke, I woke up gradually. I was in another container made of the transparent substance that Brandon called "glass", but this time, I didn't feel alarmed. I looked over and saw Brandon sitting next to me. He noticed that I was looking at him.

"Did we… get there?" I asked weakly.

He nodded. "Yes. We are in Hearthome City."


	9. Stuck in Mud

**Chapter 9 – Stuck in Mud**

The next day, I was well enough to travel. Brandon and I set off for Pastoria City. It started off as a pleasant day. It didn't last for long.

"Uh, oh. Looks like we're in for some rain," Brandon said. He pointed to some dark clouds in the distance.

"Is that bad?" I asked.

"It's inconvenient."

"Will it slow us down?"

"It might slow me down. You can float, so you should be okay."

"I'll find out soon, I suppose."

We reached the rain just as we turned east toward Pastoria City. It started pouring all too quickly, and soon Brandon was soaked. It chilled me, too, though not as much as Brandon. He had to take his radio off because apparently the rain could mess it up, so we couldn't talk either. To sum it up, we were miserable.

In addition, we soon came across large puddles of mud. I could float over them, but Brandon had to wade through them. The mud clung to him and slowed him down, and I had to wait for him. If I went too far ahead, I risked being attacked by all the trainers who were similarly trudging through the mud.

Brandon became gradually slower as he was tired out by struggling through the mud. Our pace slowed until suddenly Brandon stopped.

"Stuck…" he gasped out. He began struggling to pull himself out of the mud, but only succeeded in getting himself even more stuck.

I watched worriedly. I couldn't help him, because I was too light to pull him out, and besides, I had no hands.

I looked around to see if there was anyone nearby who could help, but there were no humans nearby.

Brandon was now up to his waist in the mud. I wanted to tell him to stop struggling, but I couldn't, because he wasn't wearing the radio. I was helpless to do anything but watch as my only friend in this world sank into the mud.

Then Brandon stopped struggling and took off his backpack. He reached inside and pulled out a Poke Ball. He released Kalani from it.

"Help me!" he choked out, somewhat unnecessarily, since Kalani was already in motion. She flew into the air and hovered next to her trainer, who grabbed on to her feet. Kalani flapped her wings, struggling to gain altitude. I saw my chance and floated over to Brandon's other side.

Brandon let go of Kalani with one hand and grabbed one of my various extensions with it. I began to try to float upwards. For a few minutes we struggled to lift him out, when suddenly Brandon lurched upwards a little, with a strange sucking noise. Encouraged, Kalani and I tried harder. But I was beginning to tire, and I saw that Kalani was breathing more heavily. If we didn't get him out soon, we would tire out and all get stuck in the mud.

Before long, Brandon came out a little more, with another sucking noise. Kalani began to flap more slowly, and I was tiring, too. We had to get him out, fast.

Soon Brandon emerged a little more, and I noticed that it was gradually becoming easier to pull him out. I redoubled my efforts.

Gradually Brandon was pulled out of the mud. Soon, only his feet were still in the mud, and I began wondering how to keep him from simply sinking back in, since he appeared to be sleeping now. By this point I was completely exhausted. I didn't sleep when I was in my own universe, but right now I wanted to do nothing more than go to sleep. But first, I had to get Brandon out.

Brandon was almost out before Kalani stopped flapping and fell. I was left holding up something about seven times my weight, by myself. A few seconds later, I fell, too.

_We were so close…_ I thought as I sank into the mud.


	10. Pastoria

**Chapter 10 – Pastoria**

Brandon woke to see Ara floating above him. "Ara?"

Ara looked down at him and made her "happy" noise. Brandon sat up dazedly and looked around.

He was still where he had been, only it wasn't raining anymore, and all the mud was dried up. His feet were still submerged in the dried mud, however.

When he looked to his left, Brandon saw, to his dismay, Kalani halfway submerged in dried mud. Luckily her head was still above the ground, so she could breathe.

"Kalani!"

Kalani opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. Then she closed her eyes and appeared to be concentrating. The solidified mud around her shifted and cracked, but she couldn't break free. Finally, she stopped her efforts and was left breathing heavily.

"It's okay, Star. You did well. Thanks," Brandon said, recalling her into her Poke Ball. He then turned to Ara. "Where's Orian?"

Ara understood and floated down to circle a patch of mud by Brandon's feet. He understood that Orian was under there. However, he was still confused as to how Ara was out of her Poke Ball, and why he wasn't under the mud.

Then he realized that the Poke Ball must have been knocked around, and Ara had come out, and changed the weather to be sunny. Ara had learned how to change the weather!

"Ara, can you make it rain a little over that spot?" he asked his Pokemon, indicating the spot she was floating over. Ara made her noise, and then a small rain cloud appeared in the sky, to pour rain right onto the spot indicated. As the dry mud was washed away, Brandon saw a small metallic-blue arch being slowly revealed.

~.~

I turned a corner and saw a cloaked figure, like the humans but strangely misshapen.

It looked at me, and I saw two green and red eyes staring. "Who are you?" I asked nervously.

The figure stared at me a moment longer, then answered in a strangely quiet, yet commanding voice that would not allow the listener to become distracted by anything else. "I am shadow and light, earth and sun, moon and stars. I have come to you to warn you."

"Warn me of what?"

"The balance is disturbed; the nature of things is changing. The end of this chapter is at hand. Complete what you have been sent to do, then come to me."

The figure disappeared, and suddenly a dark presence entered the room. I heard words, spoken in an eerie voice devoid of emotion, which gave one visions of dark and dreary places.

"When three are one, one will come… and from one will be none…"

I was consumed by darkness, broken only by one blue staring eye.

~.~

I awoke to a blaze of light shining in my eye. I instinctively closed it.

"He's awake, Ara." I heard a noise that I recognized as Ara, Brandon's Castform. And the other voice was…

"Brandon?" I asked. I got no response. I opened my eye partway to try to shield it from the sun while at the same time look at my surroundings.

I was in the approximate location of the place where Brandon had gotten stuck. He was kneeling in front of me, and past his shoulder I could see Ara. I tried floating upwards, but I was weakened and I didn't get far before falling back down. I looked at Brandon, and saw that he seemed concerned. Then he seemed to remember something.

"Oops," he said, pulling his small radio out of his pocket and putting it back on his head.

"What happened?" I asked. Brandon shrugged.

"I'm not really sure, but I think Ara got out of her Poke Ball and figured out how to stop the rain."

"She can do that?"

"It's a trait of her species. She didn't learn how to until just now, though."

Ara looked at me and made a noise. With that, we set off to go the rest of the way to Pastoria City. Luckily we had already traveled most of the distance, and since the mud was dried up, the going was much easier. We saw a few trainers on the route.

"Hey, are you a trainer?"

Brandon turned toward the voice. It was a human with orange hair that was longer than Brandon's and who was wearing a blue article of clothing that was somewhat conical. (Brandon later told me it was called a "dress".) Brandon had told me that humans were classified into two types, "girls" and "boys", and girls generally had longer hair than boys, so I suppose this one was a "girl".

In any case, Brandon answered the question. "Yes."

"Want to battle with me?"

Brandon looked somewhat surprised but answered anyway, "Okay."

The girl smiled and took up a position a good distance away from Brandon. They faced each other.

"How about two each, double battle?" the girl asked.

"That's fine with me!" Brandon answered. I was confused as to what was going on, but I floated over to land next to Brandon.

The girl released two Pokemon from their Poke Balls. "I choose Swampert and Blaziken!"

The Pokemon were drastically different from each other. One was blue and orange, and it was very large and bulky. It had strange flat things sticking out of its body which I couldn't think of a use for.

The other was thinner and taller, and it was a bright mixture of orange and red, with white hair. To my surprise, flames billowed from its hands, and I wondered how it avoided injuring itself with them.

Brandon released Dagan and Kalani from their Poke Balls. I noticed that Kalani looked tired and was breathing heavily. I didn't blame her. Apparently Brandon noticed it too, because he asked her, "Are you okay, Star? Can you do this? If you're too tired, I'll get someone else."

Kalani nodded and launched into the air.

"I'm ready!" Brandon told the girl.

"Let's start then! Blaziken, use Fire Punch on Grotle! Swampert, use Avalanche on Staraptor!"

Blaziken (who I assumed was the red one) raised its fist, and the flames began to spread around it. The blue one, who I assumed was Swampert, began breathing on its hands, and ice started forming on them.

"Dagan, use Mega Drain on Swampert! Star, use Aerial Ace on Blaziken!"

Dagan shot vines out of its bushes that latched onto Swampert. Kalani dived out of the air at Blaziken.

Blaziken jumped towards Dagan, but Kalani altered her course in midair and struck Blaziken with her beak. Blaziken flew backwards, the flames on its hand going out, but landed on its feet. Meanwhile, Swampert seemed to be weakening, though I couldn't tell why. Dagan's vines didn't appear to be doing anything.

Lots of ice had built up on Swampert's hands, and finally Swampert pulled away from Dagan's vines, which fell uselessly to the ground and were retracted. Swampert jumped high into the air, which surprised me, because it was so huge, and brought its ice-laden hands down onto Star, who was just turning back around after her collision with Blaziken. Kalani dropped like a stone.

"Kalani!" Brandon cried in dismay, then he recalled her. "You did well," he said to the Poke Ball containing her, before putting it away. "It's up to you now, Dagan! Mega drain on Swampert again!"

"Oh no you don't!" the girl cried. "Blaziken, Blaze Kick!"

Blaziken began running toward Dagan as its vines flew at Swampert. They latched on, and for a split second I noticed them glowing green.

Swampert began falling as flames erupted on Blaziken's feet. The grass began burning where it stepped. Swampert hit the ground, and Dagan retracted its vines. Blaziken launched into the air, flying at Dagan with its feet outstretched.

And then Dagan began to glow.

Blaziken's burning feet hit Dagan and bounced off, sending it flying backwards. The girl recalled her Swampert, and then everyone watched Dagan. He began to grow bigger, and the two bushes on his back melded together and spiraled upwards. A spike extended from each side of its head. It was easily as large as Brandon when the glowing stopped.

"A Torterra!" the girl gasped, then she called out, "Blaziken, Flare Blitz!"

Blaziken began to glow with flames, and this time, they covered its entire body. They grew higher, reaching into the sky. I wondered again how it could not hurt itself.

Blaziken jumped.

"Dagan, Earthquake!"

Dagan moved surprisingly quickly considering its newfound bulk, causing Blaziken to land rather awkwardly beside it. Dagan reared up and brought its forelegs crashing into the ground, causing the ground to shake violently. Blaziken was thrown off its feet to smash face-first into the grass. Its flames went out immediately, and the girl recalled it.

As soon as the ground stopped shaking, she ran over to Brandon and said, "That was a great battle."

Brandon smiled. "Thanks. You did great, too."

"Good job evolving your Grotle."

"Thank you. You did a good job raising your Pokemon."

The girl smiled and raced away. "Thanks!" she called, waving.

Soon afterwards, we entered Pastoria City.


	11. Azelf

Chapter 11 – Azelf

**Chapter 11 – Azelf**

We stayed in Pastoria City for the night. It was large, though not as large as Hearthome City. It wasn't too hard to find another one of those "hotels", and in the morning we departed for Lake Valor.

The landscape we traveled across on the way was very different from what we had encountered on the way here. First, it was grassy, and then we went through what Brandon called a "beach". It had lots of tiny rocks and was next to water. Soon, we turned north from our easterly course and saw a building in the distance.

"That's the entrance to the Grand Lake Hotel," Brandon told me. "We'll have to go through it on our way."

Soon we approached the building. It was white with blue decorations, and it had a small red door. We entered through this door, and ended up in a large room with yellow walls. A desk was set up in the far right corner, and in the far left corner was a bookshelf, like at the Pokemon Centers. Like those, too, this one was filled with books. A few humans were scattered around the spacious room, some sitting on large chairs.

A human was behind the desk. As we walked toward the red door at the other side of the room, he said to Brandon, "Would you like to stay tonight?"

Brandon shook his head. "Not as of now. I might be back later, though."

"Alright, then," the human behind the desk said. He drank something dark from a container and continued studying something on his desk. We opened the door and went through.

We emerged onto a path of stones. There were some sections of ground around us that were higher than others, and situated on top of some of these sections were white and blue buildings smaller than the one we had just exited.

I asked about these, and Brandon replied, "Those are where the guests sleep."

We followed the stone path north, passing a dirt path that led east. Soon our stone path ended, and a dirt path took up where it left off.

The grass grew longer and the trees denser as we continued north. Soon I spotted what looked like a dark path leading into the trees to our left. I pointed this out to Brandon and asked about it.

He checked his map. "It looks like that is… exactly where we want to go. Come on!"

We turned left onto the path and disappeared into the forest.

After a few minutes, Brandon said, "I don't hear anything."

I listened, and when I didn't hear anything either, I replied, "I don't either. Is that normal?"

"Not really. Usually something would be living in a forest like this."

I considered that. "Why do you think there are no noises?"

"I don't know. Something might have scared everything away. I don't like it."

Suddenly, I spotted light ahead. "Look, there's light."

Brandon saw it, too. "That must be the clearing where the lake is. We're close!"

Soon, we emerged from the dark forest and were immediately dazzled by the light, because our eyes hadn't adjusted yet. I closed my eye partially and waited for it to adjust. Once I could see, I opened my eye and surveyed our new surroundings.

We were in a clearing in the forest that was full of grass, at least until the water started. The lake was huge. It stretched far in front of us, and though I could see the trees past it, I couldn't see its end.

"It's huge!" Brandon exclaimed.

"Yes," I replied.

We stared at the lake for a few moments before we remembered why we were here.

"Cresselia said that we were supposed to obtain what they were guarding," I reminded Brandon. He nodded.

"I don't know what it could be, though," he said. "It might be at the bottom of the lake, but I can't go that far down without air." He looked at me and appeared thoughtful.

"What?" I asked with some apprehension.

"I don't know much about Unown, but you might not need air. You might be able to go down and look for whatever it is we need."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Suddenly, some of the water in the lake started bubbling near us. Brandon and I watched nervously, and Brandon grabbed one of his Poke Balls. Whatever was coming out of the lake might be hostile, even if it had spoken to us. A small blue object began to emerge from the lake, followed by more blue and a shiny red object, then by a lighter blue object attached to it, and finally two streamers, one with a red gem on the end. The object floated above the water before us, and then two yellow eyes opened it its face.

I heard the same voice as before, spoken in my mind. "According to Uxie, Unown get their air through the skin. And Uxie is usually right."

I saw Brandon out of the corner of my eye staring at the creature. "You're… Azelf…"

The creature turned to him. "That's right. And you are…?"

Brandon swallowed nervously. I wondered why he was acting the same way around this "Azelf" that he had around Cresselia. "I-I'm Brandon…" Was Azelf another one of his supposed "myths"?

"All right, and I guess that makes the Unown Orian." I looked at Azelf surprised. How did he know my name?

Azelf laughed and did a cartwheel in midair. "Don't be surprised, Cresselia told me to expect you two. Word gets around when you're in my business."

"Which is…?" I asked, momentarily forgetting that others needed a radio to understand me. But to my greater surprise, Azelf responded.

"Willpower," he said. "I'm the source of free will. Uxie and Mesprit, my siblings, have other jobs. Uxie's specialty is knowing stuff and Mesprit does feelings."

"They're real, too?" Brandon asked. I wanted to smack him or something, just so he didn't sound stupid.

"Well, of course they are," Azelf answered, doing another cartwheel. "If they weren't, would you know anything or have emotions?"

Brandon looked down. "I… guess not…"

"That's right. Now, getting to business. Why are you folks here?" Azelf looked straight at me with his yellow eyes.

"Well," I started, "Cresselia told us that we needed to obtain what the three lakes were guarding." I was pretty sure he already knew, since he said he'd been contacted by Cresselia, so why was he asking?

"And what have the lakes been guarding?"

I thought for a few seconds and looked around. I noticed Brandon doing the same. What had we come for?

Then I noticed a ray of light reflecting off of the gem on Azelf's left tail as they twitched. Azelf watched expectantly.

"That… gem," I said. I would have pointed to it like I had seen Brandon doing to other things, but, obviously, I had no fingers.

Azelf raised his tail up, so as to show the gem to us. "This one?"

I looked at Brandon, who shrugged. I looked back at Azelf, who watched me, his yellow eyes betraying no hint.

"Yes," I finally said.

"This gem is a link on the red chain, which is the only thing that can contain Dialga and Palkia," Azelf told us. "Are you sure you want it?"

"Yes," I answered.

Azelf's tail dropped. "You answered correctly. This is the only thing of value that I possess." He shrugged. "If you want it, then, you have to complete one more trial."

"What's that?" Brandon asked.

"First," Azelf said, eyes flashing, "you have to battle and defeat… _me_."


	12. Battle of Wills

**Chapter 12 – Battle of Wills**

"Can you beat him?" I asked Brandon.

"I don't know," he answered, looking somewhat nervous. "I'll have to find out, I guess."

This wasn't exactly the most reassuring thing he could have said.

Then Brandon appeared to think of something. "Wait!" he called to Azelf.

"What?"

"In the legends it says you can take away the will of anyone who harms you."

"Don't worry, I won't do that to your Pokemon. It'll be a fair fight."

"Okay, then." Brandon pulled out a Poke Ball. "I'll use Aegeus."

He released Aegeus from his Poke Ball. The two blue Pokemon stared at each other. I quickly floated to a relatively safe location next to Brandon, then Azelf spoke.

"I'll go first, then."

Azelf's eyes glowed, and a purple glow surrounded Aegeus. Aegeus began to thrash around, to my surprise. What was happening?

Brandon called out, "Aegeus, use Mirror Coat!"

Aegeus's skin glowed blue, and the blue began to spread outwards, pushing the purple ahead of it. The blue and purple gathered together and began to come towards Azelf.

I saw Azelf's eyes widen as he tried to dodge out of the way, but then the glowing ball of purple and blue changed course and hit him anyway. Azelf began to glow purple as it was absorbed into him, and he flew into the lake.

A few seconds later, he emerged from the lake again. The purple glow was gone.

"You trained your Pokemon well," he said into our minds, "but they still aren't good enough."

Azelf's eyes began to glow again, and a black aura began to surround him. After a few seconds, the aura faded. His eyes then glowed purple, but to my confusion, nothing happened.

Then Azelf opened his mouth, and a loud buzzing noise came out. It grew increasingly higher in volume, until I saw a ripple in the air travel from Azelf to Aegeus. Aegeus was sent flying backwards into a tree.

"Mirror Coat!"

Aegeus began to glow blue again, and I saw the ripple turn in midair as it contacted Aegeus and head towards Azelf.

Azelf closed his mouth and flipped out of the way, only to be hit when the ripple changed directions. He reeled backwards, but didn't go into the lake this time.

"Haha, got you!" Azelf then cried.

Suddenly a purple ball formed in the air in front of Aegeus and flew into him, smashing him into the same tree once again. The tree swayed and I heard cracking noises. Aegeus fell to the ground but managed to get back up.

Then Azelf's eyes glowed. Aegeus was once again surrounded by the purple light, but this time he was picked up and slammed into the tree. More cracking noises came from the tree, louder this time.

"Aegeus, use Mirror Coat again!"

Again the blue glow surrounded Aegeus as he fell to the ground, and then the blue glow pushed the purple outwards. Like before, it gathered into a ball and flew at Azelf.

Unlike before, Azelf's eyes then flashed again. Azelf suddenly moved at a blinding speed to the right, dodging it. The ball changed direction again, and Azelf turned and dodged it again. Then the ball of blue and purple turned in midair toward Azelf once again, and as Azelf turned, his eyes flashed like before. But this time, he moved more slowly, and his eyes widened before it smacked into him.

He flew through the air and crashed into a tree, causing it to snap in half at the point of impact. I caught just a glimpse of blue before he was buried by the top half of the leaves.

Brandon stared, then slowly started to smile. "Did we… win?"

Then a loud cracking noise was heard, and we returned our attention to the fallen tree in time to see a small blue object come hurtling from its direction. The blue object smashed into Aegeus, then moved back as Aegeus flew into the same tree once again and the tree gave way.

The tree collapsed on top of Aegeus, much as the other had done to Azelf a few moments ago. Brandon gasped in dismay.

Azelf turned to us, breathing heavily and somewhat hurt but not as out of action as we wanted him to be. "It looks like… I win."

Brandon ground his teeth. "Not yet… Aegeus, use Counter!"

Something began glow orange under the tree, and with many cracking noises, Aegeus emerged at a surprisingly high speed from under the tree. Azelf had time to turn and look surprised before he was sent flying into the lake again.

Aegeus stopped glowing and fell to the ground on the shore of the lake. Brandon rushed to him. "You did great, Aegeus," he said, recalling his Pokemon. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, I floated to the edge of the lake and looked in the water for a sign of Azelf. I didn't see anything.

Brandon noticed and joined me. He bent to look in the water when…

A small blue Pokemon floated to the surface. Azelf opened one eye and looked at us wearily. "Good job… You… win."

The end of one of Azelf's tails floated to the surface. There was a small red gem in the center. One of the links of the red chain.

"Take it… It's… yours now…"

Brandon bent down and pulled it off. Surprisingly, it came off easily, despite staying on during the entire battle. Azelf winced as it was removed.

Brandon immediately looked at him in concern, and I asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Azelf answered tiredly. "Just need… a good long… rest. First… you need to… know something."

"What is it?" Brandon asked.

"Had two… of those… but the other one… was stolen. Right before you… arrived."

Brandon looked at the red gem in his hand. "You had two of these?" he asked, indicating it. Azelf nodded and winced.

"Yeah… Ow… you fight hard." He laughed and winced again. "Ow. I'll see you, then…"

With that, Azelf sank back into Lake Valor.


	13. Deoxys

Chapter 13 – Deoxys

**Chapter 13 – Deoxys**

Brandon and I departed Lake Valor with our newly acquired red gem in Brandon's backpack. We had planned out our route to the next closest lake, Lake Acuity, which was to the far north. First, we would go to Veilstone City, which was just to the north, and see if the rockfall had been cleared yet. We headed northwards, with high spirits.

"What's that?" I asked, seeing something unusual in the sky above us. At least, I hadn't seen it before.

Brandon looked around the sky. "What's what?"

"That glowing thing," I said, feeling somewhat frustrated at not being able to point. "It looks like a bird, but its glowing."

Then Brandon saw it, too. "Oh, that. I don't know… wait. Is that…?"

"What?"

"It looks vaguely like descriptions of the legendary bird Pokemon, Ho-Oh. But it's supposed to be a myth."

"Like Cresselia, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie?" I pointed out.

Brandon sighed. "Yeah. I guess it's real, too."

The colorful, glowing bird disappeared into the horizon.

"It's supposed to be an omen of good luck at the start of a journey," Brandon said, staring after it.

"I guess that's good for us, then."

Brandon nodded, and we continued.

Suddenly a red blur slammed into Brandon and flung him into the bushes by the path. Then a long red vine-like thing came from the spot he disappeared into and grabbed me. I was pulled into the bushes almost before I realized it.

Brandon was lying face-down on the grass, and standing above him was… something. It didn't look like anything _I_ had ever seen in this world, but then again, there's nothing new about that. It was roughly shaped like a human, but it had red, black and green skin. Its face consisted of a green oval on its head with black and white eyes and no nose or mouth. Instead of a nose, a purple line went down its face.

But its face wasn't even the weirdest part. Even though it was shaped somewhat like a human, instead of arms it had two long vine-like protrusions, one red and the other green, on each side of its body, one of which was wrapped around me. I was pretty humans didn't have those. Instead of feet, it had sharp points at the ends of its red and green legs. And in the middle of its chest, above its black and constricted-looking waist, was a large purple gem. This gem was many times the size of our red one.

Brandon rolled over and opened his eyes. He glimpsed the strange creature… and screamed. That ended any doubts I may have had about whether it was normal. The creature then somehow fused two of its vine-like protrusions into something resembling a human hand and covered Brandon's mouth with it. "Shut up!" it said. "Do you _want_ them to hear you?!"

Then I realized that it spoke directly into my mind, just like Cresselia and Azelf. Brandon, for his part, stopped screaming.

The creature looked around nervously, then added, "They'll probably be on us in a moment, thanks to you. What's the matter with you, anyway?"

Brandon made a muffled noise. I decided to try to talk to it, seeing as how Azelf understood me, and this creature communicated the same way.

"Who are 'they'?" I asked.

The red and green creature looked at me and unwrapped its "arm" from around me before replying, "Team Galactic. Who else?"

Team Galactic. That meant nothing to me. "Who is Team Galactic?"

I detected surprise in the creature's "voice". "You don't know? I haven't been here that long, and I still know who they are."

"I haven't been here very long, either."

The creature uncovered Brandon's mouth. "Don't make any noise. We'll have to move soon." Then, to me, "They're pretty much your average take-over-the-world megalomaniacs. You know the type."

I didn't know the type, or what a "megalomaniac" was, but I decided to ask later.

Brandon got to his feet and stood up. "What are you?"

It shrugged. "Don't know, don't really care. I named myself Deoxys, though. All I know is that I came out of a meteor. Don't remember anything before that."

"You're an alien?"

"You might be able to say that. Like I said, I don't remember—"

A crashing noise came from the other side of the bushes. Deoxys's head snapped towards the sound, then it turned back to us and hissed, "Run!"

Brandon began to run towards the trees by the path, and I floated beside him. Deoxys was somehow floating next to me. I saw Deoxys look back, then he told us, "They've seen us!"

"Why don't we just fight them off?" Brandon asked in between breaths.

"They've got one of their machines with them. They like to steal Pokemon and perform 'experiments' on them," Deoxys responded. I didn't like the way he said "experiments". Or thought it. Whatever.

"We're close! Cut them off that way," a voice said behind us. I didn't like the sound of that, either.

"Faster!" urged Deoxys.

Suddenly a purple and white object flew into Deoxys, knocking him to the ground. Brandon and I stopped and turned. "Deoxys!" Brandon cried.

A small purple and white furry Pokemon with a long, spiral shaped tail was on top of Deoxys. It raised one of its claws to scratch. Then Deoxys grabbed it with one of his tentacles and tossed it aside before getting up.

Suddenly many more of the same Pokemon emerged from the vegetation. I looked around and saw that we were all surrounded.

Then some humans appeared behind these purple and white Pokemon. They had blue hair and were wearing white and grey clothes. One of them laughed.

"You're not so tough now that you can't change formes with the meteorites," he said. Deoxys stared at him with the blank expression that I had come to realize he generally had.

"Bring the Quellor," the human said to another human. The other human nodded and left.

Deoxys then began to glow purple. Some of the Pokemon surrounding us began to glow, too, and lift up into the air. The humans began shouting. I saw an opening to the outside of the circle, and I said to Brandon, "There's an opening!"

Brandon nodded, and we headed toward it. Partway there, I stopped and turned when I realized that Deoxys hadn't moved. Brandon halted when he realized that I had.

"Deoxys, are you coming?" I asked the red and green creature.

"No," he replied. "I can't maintain the psychic field while moving. You escape first, then I'll try to fight them off."

"Okay, then," I said somewhat sadly.

"Good luck," Brandon added.

We raced through the confusion of the humans, supposedly Team Galactic, trying to prevent their Pokemon from floating. Soon, we emerged onto the path and hurried toward Veilstone City. Behind us, we heard a loud explosion.

We hoped it meant that Deoxys had escaped.


	14. Veilstone

**Chapter 14 – Veilstone**

Soon, we entered Veilstone City. It was a large collection of structures, all built on rock.

"What should we do now?" Brandon asked. I would have shrugged if I had shoulders.

"I don't know. What's next on our travel plan?"

"We go west from here to Celestic Town. First, lets head to the Pokemon Center and rest for a while. We can ask about the status of the rockfall while we're there."

We headed for the white building with the red roof that marked it as the Pokemon Center. As we neared it, I saw a large blue building with spikes sticking out of its sides in the northern part of the city. Brandon noticed it, too.

"That's strange," he mused. "I don't remember that building being there the last time I was here."

Presently, we entered the Pokemon Center. The inside looked exactly the same as the insides of the others I had seen, aside from the humans scattered around it. Brandon walked up to the counter and asked the human sitting behind it, "Could you heal my Wobbuffet, please?"

He took out Aegeus's Poke Ball and gave it to her. She nodded and took it.

After doing this, Brandon sat in one of the chairs scattered around the perimeter of the room. I followed him and landed in the chair next to him. I looked at him and noticed that he was watching the object he had called a "television". According to him, it was supposed to show pictures, but to me it just looked like a lot of colored dots. I could hear what was being said, though.

"…hasn't been cleared yet, though work is ongoing," it said. "The rockfall is still causing major inconvenience to travelers and trainers. The route is expected to be traversable in roughly three days." Brandon groaned.

"In other news," the television continued, "Yet another Veilstone citizen is charging Team Galactic with assault and armed robbery. There is little evidence, though the police are planning to search the Galactic Headquarters tomorrow." Brandon gasped.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Brandon pointed at the television.

"That's the building we saw," he said. "It's the Galactic Headquarters!"

~.~

We stayed in another hotel that night, and in the morning, we decided to go to Galactic Headquarters and do a little bit of "snooping", as Brandon called it. Soon we were standing before the tall and ominous building. There were no other humans around.

There were three glass sliding doors. We approached the one in the middle and watched as it automatically slid aside.

"That's cool," Brandon muttered as he entered. I stayed outside, since Brandon supposed that they might want to kidnap me because I was "shiny". Soon the door slid aside again and he emerged.

"There's just on room in the front, with a reception desk and all that," he explained to me. "The rest of the building is behind a locked door."

"How do you open it?" I asked.

"You need a key. I don't know where we would get one, though."

Suddenly I heard a scream of pain in my mind. Brandon apparently heard it, too.

"That was… Deoxys!"

"I think it came from inside the Galactic Headquarters," I said.

Brandon looked at the large building looming above us. "He must have been captured after all. We need to save him!"

Then the door to our left slid open. A human who was dressed in white and black and had blue hair, apparently a member of Team Galactic like the ones before, emerged and immediately saw us.

"Hey! What are you doing around here? This is no place for kids!" he growled.

"Sorry," Brandon replied as he backed away.

Then the Galactic member saw me.

"Is that your Unown?" he asked Brandon, gesturing to me. I floated away nervously.

Brandon blinked. "Uh, no… er, yes, sort of…"

"You don't know? Well, that's unusual. Don't worry, if you don't want it, I'll take it!"

The Team Galactic member pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it at me. I dodged it, and it clattered harmlessly to the concrete. Brandon became angry.

"Stop that!" he yelled at the other human. The other simply shrugged.

"Why should I? Will you stop me?"

The Galactic member threw another Poke Ball at me. I barely dodged it. Brandon took out a Poke Ball and released Budd.

"Someone save me from the puny Roselia," the Galactic member laughed as he released another one of those purple and white furry Pokemon. I blinked in confusion. Why was he laughing if he wanted someone to save him?

"Budd, use Razor Leaf!" Brandon ordered. Budd threw leaves that had been concealed inside its hands at the purple and white Pokemon. The other Pokemon nimbly dodged most of them, but one hit it and sent it reeling backwards.

"Glameow, use Scratch!"

The purple and white Pokemon, apparently called Glameow, raised one of its claws and dashed at Budd. Budd jumped away and threw more leaves at Glameow. Glameow flew several feet and landed on the concrete. It slowly got back to its feet.

"Use Scratch again, Glameow!" the Galactic member called. Glameow dashed at Budd, who again jumped out of the way. But this time, Glameow anticipated the move and changed course accordingly. Glameow raised one claw and scratched Budd with it, who flinched in pain.

"Budd, use Mega Drain!"

Budd sent vines out of its hands that latched onto Glameow. Glameow slowly began to weaken and sink to the ground. Its trainer looked on in horror.

"Come on, Glameow, get up!"

But Glameow hit the ground and closed it eyes. The Galactic member recalled it in disgust.

"I'll see if I can't get a new Pokemon… This one is worthless," he grumbled. Then he turned to Brandon and warned, "You get off easy this time, but don't mess with Team Galactic."

With that he ran back into the large building next to us.


	15. Rescue Operation

**Chapter 15 – Rescue Operation**

Brandon noticed something on the ground. He bent down and picked it up.

"This is… rather fortunate," he said, studying the object in his hand. I floated closer and peered at it with my one eye. It was a rectangular, flat piece of plastic.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a card key… It could be the key to that door in there."

"Let's try it out," I suggested. Brandon nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, but how to keep them from seeing you and trying to take you again…"

"I could wait here," I offered, even though I really wanted to go with him.

Brandon looked at me. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Well… yes."

"If you really want to, you can hide in my backpack."

"Alright."

Brandon unzipped his backpack, and I stuffed myself inside. It was a tight fit, but I was able to fit inside.

"I'll have to take off the radio, so they don't suspect anything. Don't worry, I'll get you out when we're clear."

"Don't take long," I requested, feeling rather squashed. Brandon nodded, removed the radio, put it in his pocket, and zipped his backpack. I was plunged into darkness.

It seemed like an eternity later when the backpack was opened again. Brandon peered inside.

"You can come out now," he whispered. I gratefully removed myself from his backpack, feeling even flatter. Brandon put the radio back on.

"You have a lot of junk in there," I told him before I took stock of our surroundings.

We were in a plain metal hallway that stretched for some distance and then turned a corner. Behind us was a metal door.

"It comes in handy," he responded to my comment. "Let's go."

We set off down the hallway.

~.~

We wandered around in that building for a while. We didn't see any other humans or Pokemon, but that wasn't exactly reassuring, since they all had to be _somewhere_. A few times we came across these strange glowing circles in the floor that would somehow send you to another room when you stepped on them. Or floated above them, in my case.

Eventually we found ourselves in a room with two white beds. On the wall between them was a piece of metal with markings on it. Brandon translated them for me.

"'Team Galactic Nap Room'," he read. "'Ensure the bed is unoccupied before getting into it!'"

"That's… strange," I commented. Then I added, "…I think."

Near them were some stairs. We went up them and emerged into another long metal hallway. At the end of the hallway and after a few turns, we encountered three of those glowing circles. "Which one?" Brandon asked.

I thought for a little bit before responding, "The farthest one. They would put the ones they want you to go into closer to you, and we don't want to go where they want us to, generally."

We used the farthest one, and were transported into a small room with only one set of stairs. At the top of the stairs was a large room occupied by a large desk with various buttons in it, and to our left, a smaller desk with what Brandon told me was called a "laptop". Various objects with blinking lights were set against the walls. An opening in the wall led to another of the glowing circles.

Suddenly, I heard another scream in my mind, only it was louder than before this time. I saw Brandon wince.

"What are they doing to him…" he asked rhetorically and worriedly.

"That means we're close, because it was louder this time," I said.

Brandon nodded, and we entered the glowing circle.

We appeared in another hallway, but this one had less lighting, giving it a gloomy appearance. Large things with blue tops and bottoms and transparent middles were scattered through the hall. Inside each was a green liquid. Also, standing around one of them were several humans with blue hair and white clothes.

At the sound of the glowing circle that brought us there activating, they had looked in our direction, and now they were all staring at us.

"What are you doing here?!" one of them asked bewilderedly. "You're not part of Team Galactic…"

"I hope I'm not," Brandon muttered. I looked at the container all of the other humans were clustered around, and noticed that inside it was…

"Deoxys is in that one that they're gathered around," I told Brandon. Brandon looked and saw Deoxys, too. Deoxys was floating in the green liquid, with a body position that suggested that he was very tired. He looked up at us, and to my shock, I saw that he had only three "arms", where before he had had four.

"Help…" Deoxys pleaded, before falling forward a little and closing his eyes. I decided not to mention Deoxys's lack of an arm to Brandon, so he didn't get any more upset.

"Get out of here," one of the other humans said. Brandon shook his head.

"No. Not without him," he said, pointing to Deoxys. The other humans turned to look, and then turned back.

"Why do you want this… thing?" another human asked, gesturing toward Deoxys.

"No one and no thing deserves to be tortured like that," Brandon responded angrily. He pulled out two Poke Balls.

"Ha, this kid thinks he's invincible because he's got a couple Pokemon," a third human taunted. "You're not the only one!" With that, each of the Galactic members produced a Poke Ball.

Brandon released Kalani and Halle from his Poke Balls. "I can beat all of you easily," he said, while in fact appearing quite worried. The Galactic members all laughed and released their Pokemon. In a few seconds, we were surrounded by Glameow and several of that bird-like Pokemon that had attacked me just after I arrived, which Brandon had called Murkrow.

"You can't beat us all at the same time," one of the Galactic members laughed.


	16. Latios and Latias

Chapter 16 – Latios and Latias

**Chapter 16 – Latios and Latias**

Brandon looked like he didn't know what to do. I don't know what I looked like, but I know that I didn't. My one attack might be able to take out a few Glameow, but I knew from past experience that the Murkrow were immune.

The circle of Pokemon and Team Galactic members closed in on us. Then, I noticed that the container with Deoxys floating limply inside it was left unguarded. This gave me an idea.

I floated up and over the Galactics. I heard a few of them shout something and some Pokemon came running after me. I hoped this worked.

I hovered next to the container with Deoxys, and then activated my attack. Light flashed from me and collided with the transparent part of the container, which I hoped was glass. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some Glameow reel backwards.

The transparent part, which I had correctly assumed was glass, shattered. Green liquid spilled across the floor, and Deoxys came out with it, to lay in a puddle of green face-down.

The Galactics simply stared in shock, then they started shouting. Suddenly, a loud crashing noise was heard from above us. The Galactics stopped shouting and they and their Pokemon stared at the ceiling. The noise came again, along with a screeching sound.

Then part of the ceiling was ripped away, to reveal the sky. Peering into the hole at us were the heads of two strange creatures. One was red and white, and the other was blue and white.

The Galactics didn't move until the blue and white creature opened its mouth and emitted a loud roar that caused the Galactics and their Pokemon to lose their nerve and run into the glowing circle that had brought us here.

Then the other one, the red and white one, looked at Brandon and said, "We heard you needed some help." Like Azelf, Cresselia, and Deoxys, this one also spoke into my mind. It looked like this was a common form of communication.

The blue one jumped down and landed on the floor beside Brandon. Now I could see its full body, and I realized that it was a bird-like creature that had four limbs in addition to its wings, and had no beak. The red one jumped down, and I saw that it was simply a smaller, differently colored version of the other.

"Get on," the blue one said to Brandon, motioning with its head towards its back. Brandon looked towards Deoxys.

"Can we bring him?" he asked.

The blue one nodded. "Sure. Just hurry."

Soon we took off through the hole in the roof of the Galactic Headquarters. Deoxys had been successfully woken up and was hanging on to the blue creature with two arms and me with the other. Brandon was riding on the smaller red one.

As we flew over Veilstone City, Deoxys said, somewhat weakly, "You took your time finding me…"

"Sorry," I replied. "We thought you escaped."

"Who are you?" Brandon asked our rescuers. The red one glanced back at him, surprised, before exclaiming, "Oops, we forgot to introduce ourselves! I'm Latias, and that's my brother Latios."

"Latias heard his telepathy," Latios said, motioning to Deoxys with one arm. "She told me about it, and we decided to investigate." Then he looked at Brandon, and added, "By the way, where are we going?"

Brandon looked around and thought about it. "Well, there's a rockfall blocking the path between Veilstone and Solaceon," he started, "so we really only need to be on the other side of it."

Latios nodded. "Okay, then." Suddenly he looked around as if he sensed something. Then he glanced at Latias slyly and said, "Latias, the air currents are telling me that your boyfriend is coming this way."

Latias looked up sharply and glared at him. "I told you, Rayquaza is not—! Just because I happen to crash into the Sky Pillar doesn't mean that—"

Latios snickered. "What about the _other_ incident?"

At this comment, I noticed Latias's face undergo an interesting color change. The red patches turned a few shades paler and the white parts turned red. "How do you know about that?!"

Latios shrugged, nearly causing Deoxys and me to fall off. "I have… contacts."

Latias continued to glare at him. "If you breathe one word…"

Latios snickered again. "Too late."

Latias's entire face turned white. "WHAT?!"

"Everyone already knows."

"Why you… As soon as we get these passengers off I will kill you."

Latios laughed. "Yeah, right."

That was the end of all conversation for the rest of our flight.


	17. Celestic

Chapter 17 – Celestic

**Chapter 17 – Celestic**

We soon passed the rockfall, and our new friends landed to allow us to get off.

As soon as we were clear, they rose back into the air and hovered for a moment.

"Thank you!" Brandon called. I simply floated next to him, since I'd already discovered that they couldn't hear me. Deoxys was unconscious, lying on the grass next to us.

"You're welcome!" Latias called back.

"Glad we could help!" Latios said. Latias then turned to him and glared. He glanced at her and took off, sending a last "See ya!" at us.

Latias launched after him. "Where do you think you're going?!"

Latios grinned. "Latias and Rayquaza, sitting in a tree…"

"That's it! Get back here!"

We watched Latias chase Latios out of sight. After they were gone, Brandon commented, "Good luck to Latios; it looks like he'll need it."

I stared after them. "I wonder why she got mad at him?"

Brandon glanced at me, and I got the feeling I was missing something. Then Brandon gestured to Deoxys and said, "Let's wake him up so we don't have to carry him."

At that moment, Deoxys's eyes opened. He looked around and sat up. "Where… are we?"

"We're close to Celestic Town," Brandon replied. Then he noticed something and his eyes widened. "What happened to your arm?!"

"What?" Deoxys looked down at the stub of his lower right "arm" and winced. "They cut it off. I have no idea why." He touched it gingerly with one of his other arms and flinched. "Ow."

"We need to get you some help," Brandon said worriedly. "Celestic Town isn't far away. Can you walk?"

Deoxys struggled to his feet, or at least the pointy substitutes thereof. He then immediately fell back down. "No…"

Then I noticed something else. "Deoxys, the gem in your chest is cracked."

"It is?" He looked down at it. A small but conspicuous crack ran across it. "Ouch. That's why I feel so bad."

"Is that serious?" Brandon asked. Deoxys nodded.

"Yes… That's my brain. If it breaks, I'll die." He sounded worried.

"That's your _brain_?!"

"…Yes…"

Brandon pointed to what appeared to be Deoxys's head. "What's that for, then?"

"Um… It's for seeing out of…"

Brandon blinked. "Oh." Then he reached down and grabbed one of Deoxys's appendages. "We need to get to Celestic Town quickly, then."

With Brandon's help, Deoxys managed to stand up. But as soon as he tried to take a step, he fell, so he ended up using Brandon for support. According to Brandon, Celestic Town was only a few minutes away, but it took us nearly an hour before we arrived. When we entered the town, our small party got lots of stares from the various humans who populated it.

But we eventually made our way to the Pokemon Center. As soon as we stepped inside the building (or in my case, floated), all the humans' eyes were on us: the alien, the human, and the blue Unown trailing in their wake. Brandon got to the front desk, practically dragging Deoxys behind him, and told the human behind it, "He needs help. Now."

The human at the front desk nodded somewhat hesitantly. Soon Deoxys was taken away to the back of the Pokemon Center, where Brandon said the "intensive care units" were.

We found a hotel and spent the night there, while Deoxys was taken care of at the Pokemon Center. In the morning we left the hotel and went back to the Pokemon Center. The same human as before was behind the desk. She looked up at us, stood up, and motioned for us to follow her.

"We don't know enough about this species of Pokemon to heal it fully," she told us as we traveled through the various white hallways inside the Pokemon Center. "We were able to keep what was left of the missing arm from getting infected, but the crack in its chest we aren't sure how to fix."

We entered a small room with white walls, ceiling, and floor. In the center of the room, surrounded by various things with blinking lights, was a table, and on the table lay Deoxys. His eyes were closed, and his stub was covered in white "bandages", as Brandon called them. Many long tubes and wires were connected to him. Brandon wordlessly walked over to stand next to Deoxys. He watched the various blinking things. I watched Deoxys, and I was surprised when after a few moments his eyes opened.

"Brandon…" Deoxys said weakly. Brandon turned, surprised.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.

"Find… Jaeda…" Deoxys closed his eyes again.


	18. Jaeda

Chapter 18 – Jaeda

**Chapter 18 – Jaeda**

It didn't take us long to learn that Jaeda was the name of an "old woman" living in the northern part of the town. She was the caretaker of the monuments that were scattered through Celestic Town.

After getting directions, we approached her residence.

"I hope we're at the right place," Brandon muttered before knocking on the wooden door. After a few moments, it was opened by a short human with grey hair, something Brandon called "glasses" on her face, and purple clothes.

"Yes? Who are you?" she asked Brandon.

Brandon tried to think of something to tell her, and apparently failed, so he started with his name. "I'm Brandon, from Twinleaf Town. Are you Jaeda?" I suppose he didn't really know why Deoxys told him to find her, so you really can't blame him.

"Yes, that's my name," replied Jaeda. "Why are you here?" For a second I heard echoes of Azelf asking the same question in my mind. Then I was listening to Brandon attempt to answer.

"Well, you see, it's a long and complicated story. But we need your help. At least, I think. I mean, I was told to find you…" He faltered uncertainly.

"Who told you to find me?" Jaeda asked, staring through her glasses at Brandon. He hesitated a moment.

"Well… that's what's complicated about it. I'm not sure if the name means anything to you…"

"Try me."

"Okay… Deoxys. Deoxys asked us to find you."

A look of recognition came over Jaeda's face, mixed with other expressions that I couldn't read. "Deoxys?" she repeated.

Brandon nodded.

"Where is he!? Don't just stand there, lead the way! Wait, hold on. I need to get a few things…" With that, Jaeda slammed the door in front of us, and we heard various noises of things shifting from inside the house. Brandon and I were left standing before the front door, somewhat confused.

"How does Deoxys know her, and how does she know him?" Brandon pondered. I would have shrugged if I had shoulders.

"I don't know," I answered, as the noises from within the house approached the front door. Suddenly the door flew open, and Jaeda rushed back out, carrying a small black bag. She turned to Brandon.

"Where is Deoxys? I've been so worried…"

"Um… He's at the Pokemon Center," Brandon informed her.

.

A few minutes later, Brandon, Jaeda, and I entered the Pokemon Center. Brandon had offered to help the old woman, but she had insisted that she was fine.

The human at the front desk, the same one as before, led us to the room with the unconscious Deoxys in it. When we arrived, Jaeda rushed over and gasped at Deoxys's injuries. She whirled to face Brandon.

"How could you let this happen to _any_ Pokemon!?" she demanded angrily. Brandon took a step backwards.

"It was Team Galactic… They got him while he was helping us escape. We found and rescued him the next day, but I don't know what they did to him in that time…"

The old woman calmed down. "Well, I suppose I have to thank you for rescuing him."

Brandon then asked a question I thought he would never get around to asking. "How do you and Deoxys know each other?"

Jaeda blinked before responding. "Well, that's simple. He crash-landed in my backyard."

"What?!"

"A meteor fell in my backyard ten years ago, and he came out of it. He had been living in my house until about a year ago, when he just disappeared."

Brandon paused and tried to absorb that information. I wasn't quite as surprised as him, since I knew next to nothing about this world in the first place.

"Now, I'll see what I can do for him," Jaeda said. "He got himself hurt a lot, so I learned through experience how to fix him up." She shook her head sadly and sat down next to Deoxys.

Deoxys's eyes suddenly flew open. He sat up and looked around confusedly. "What—? Who—?"

He then cringed and pressed one of his arms against the purple gem in his chest as he lay back down. He turned his head toward Jaeda and looked at her without appearing to focus. "What… Why are you… here?"

Jaeda opened her black bag. "I'm here to fix you up. I'll ask you after you're better why you ran off." Then she turned her attention to Brandon and me. "Leave us alone for a while, I'll let you know when I'm done."

Brandon nodded and started to leave. I turned to follow him.

"Wait."

Brandon and I stopped and turned back around. Deoxys had turned his head to us. "Thanks…"

Deoxys closed his eyes. We left.


	19. Mount Coronet

Chapter 19 – Mount Coronet

**Chapter 19 – Mount Coronet**

Two days later, Deoxys was healed enough to travel. We would have continued on without him, but Brandon asked him if he wanted to come, and he (of course) responded yes. So we waited until he was well enough, then Brandon stocked up on supplies and we left Celestic Town and headed west.

The terrain was grassy until it became rocky a short distance later, soon rising up to form the natural formation Brandon called "Mount Coronet". The rock became gradually steeper, giving trouble to Brandon and Deoxys, who was not quite well enough to float and had to go on foot. Eventually, a black opening yawned before us.

"Where does that lead?" Deoxys asked. Brandon shrugged.

"I'm not sure. There aren't very many accurate maps of Mount Coronet, so you can never be sure. But most people say that the way to Snowpoint City and Lake Acuity is near Celestic Town."

Deoxys nodded, and I said, "Let's hope this is the way, then."

Brandon took out a flashlight to light the way with, and we plunged into the mountain.

.

We wandered through the dark caves for what seemed like an eternity. Every new cavern was different than the last, and none of them seemed to lead anywhere except to another one. Pokemon were scattered throughout them, but none of them bothered us.

Eventually Deoxys, still sore from his injuries and missing an arm, wearily sat down. Brandon stopped and turned back, and I hovered next to him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I've been mentally mapping our path," Deoxys explained, sounding tired. "We should have been going in circles, but nothing is familiar. I was going to wait before something familiar came up before mentioning it, in case we really were going somewhere, but I'm worn out now."

Brandon sat down. "All right… We can make camp here. I'm pretty sure it's nighttime outside right now."

Deoxys barely nodded. Brandon took something out of his backpack. "Do you eat?" he asked Deoxys.

"Sort of…" came the reply. "Not like you humans eat, though."

"Here, then." Brandon handed something to Deoxys, who peered at it through the gloom.

"What is it?"

"It's a ration box," Brandon explained. Deoxys formed a hand with his left two arms and crushed the small box. He held his hand in a fist position for a few seconds as Brandon watched with interest. When Deoxys unclenched his fist and reformed his two arms, the box was gone.

"Where'd it go?"

"I absorbed it through my skin," Deoxys explained. Brandon blinked in the semi-darkness.

"Oh. You're really supposed to take it _out_ of the box first…" he trailed off, seeing that Deoxys had fallen asleep.

Brandon soon followed Deoxys's example. I kept watch, because I didn't really need to sleep.

.

I waited in the darkness for a very long time before I realized that my visibility was somewhat improved. I looked around for the source of the light and found a small crack in the wall of the cavern.

Brandon sat up, rubbed his eyes, and yawned. "Good morning," he said to me as I floated over to him. I couldn't respond because he had taken off the radio to sleep. He looked around.

"It seems lighter in here," he commented. I floated over to the crack and hovered next to it. He saw it, then. He also dug the radio out of his pocket and put it back on.

"I noticed the same thing," I said as soon as he was able to hear me. He got up and went over to me.

"I wonder, how wide is this?" he pondered, looking at the crack. He experimentally stuck his hand through it, and then his eyes widened. He pulled his hand back.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, confused by his reaction.

"It's wider than it looks, because it's at an angle," he told me, growing excited. "We might be able to fit through it!"

I whirled as I heard a noise behind me, and Brandon spun around, too. It's a good thing, too, or else I might have been hit by the purple blob that suddenly flew at me. I quickly moved out of the way as it dissolved against the cave wall, and Brandon jumped.

"Oops, sorry…" I heard in my head, and then Deoxys emerged from the darkness.

"Sorry?" I repeated. "What are you thinking?"

"Don't wake me up like that," Deoxys said, sounding somewhat sheepish. "Anyway, what's this?" he inquired, motioning towards the crack.

Brandon recovered his voice. "I think we might be able to fit through it."

Deoxys looked at it doubtfully. "Are you sure?"

Brandon shrugged. "Not really, but it's larger than it looks, and it's worth a try."

Deoxys nodded. "Alright then."

Brandon looked at the crack thoughtfully for a few seconds before saying, "Deoxys, since you're the largest, you go through first. If you can't fit, we can keep going through the mountain."

Deoxys nodded and disappeared into the crack. After a few moments, a loud rumbling and crashing noise was heard. Brandon looked startled, but he managed to stay calm. The noise stopped, and then we heard Deoxys say, "It wasn't quite wide enough, but it's bigger now."

Brandon looked speechless for a moment, then he muttered, "That works, too, I guess."

Next, Brandon went through. Due to Deoxys's enlarging of the passage, he fit easily, and last of all I floated through.

Once I got outside, I was nearly blinded by the sunlight, because first of all, I had been in the dark for a long time.

Second of all, the sunlight was reflecting off of lots and lots… of snow.


	20. Mew

Chapter 20 – Mew

**Chapter 20 – Mew**

Brandon shivered as he surveyed the frozen landscape in front of him. I studied it, too.

A snow-covered path stretched out before us, the foot of the mountain to either side, like a pincer. There were no humans or Pokemon in sight. The mountain ended some distance away, and then trees, laden with snow, marked the boundaries of the path.

"We must be close to Snowpoint City," Brandon said. I barely understood him, because his teeth were chattering.

Deoxys nodded. Brandon took off his backpack and pulled a coat out. He put it on, zipped his backpack back up, and shouldered it again. "Let's go," Deoxys said. I felt cold, but it wasn't too bad since I didn't have to walk through the snow. Brandon looked like he was barely tolerating it, and Deoxys looked like he didn't mind, but I think Deoxys was just trying to act "tough".

In any case, we set off across the snow. Soon, we reached the end of the mountain, and our path turned north. As we turned northward, we suddenly heard a voice in our minds.

"Wait!"

We stopped and looked around for the source. I heard a noise behind me, and all three of us turned.

Floating slowly toward us was a pink… something with a long tail. It had a head that was large in proportion to its body and two tiny arms with three stubby fingers on each. On its head were two triangular ears and on the end of its tail was a section that was thicker than the rest of the tail. It looked at us with large blue eyes.

"Why do you insist on moving around so much… My job would be a lot easier if you would just stay still," it said in a high, smooth sort of "voice", breathing heavily.

Brandon stared at it with wide eyes. "Y-you're Mew!" he gasped out.

"Yes, and…?"

Brandon shook his head. "Nothing."

Mew giggled and did a backflip in the air. "Are you surprised that I'm real, too? Azelf and Cresselia said that you didn't think they were real at first, either."

Brandon shivered. "No, not really anymore…"

Mew then glanced at me and Deoxys and giggled again. "What do you two think?"

I looked around for help and didn't find any. "About what, exactly?" I asked, wondering if Mew would be able to hear me like Azelf and Deoxys. Deoxys just looked at the snow, appearing decidedly uncomfortable.

Apparently Mew could hear me, too, because she then giggled once again and said, "Do you think I'm real, of course!"

"…Well, yes," I responded uncertainly. She simply giggled (I wondered if this was a habit) and transferred the gaze of her large blue eyes to Deoxys. Deoxys shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the snow.

"What about you?" Mew asked him. He looked up but, I noticed, avoided looking at her directly.

"Um…no…" When he said this, he looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at him. "Wait… I mean… yes?" he added lamely. Mew giggled.

"You're the only one who I've ever met who wasn't sure if I was real," she told him, and giggled again. I noticed that the green part of Deoxys's face turned purple and he returned to studying the snow under him.

Mew turned back to Brandon and me. "I have a message," she said, then paused dramatically. "Don't take a boat."

We stared at her. She giggled and flipped in midair. "That's it?" I asked.

Mew nodded, then resumed giggling.

Brandon glanced at me and Deoxys confusedly. I was just as confused. Deoxys simply looked like he wanted to disappear.

"Who… who is the message from?" Brandon asked Mew. She looked at us for a moment, then opened her mouth.

To my surprise, a voice that sounded nothing like Mew's telepathic voice was emitted. It was far deeper. And it wasn't in my head, either. Even Deoxys looked up in surprise.

"I am the light and the shadow, the original and the last. When three are one, one will come… and from one will be none. And when all are one, none will be all…"

Mew closed her mouth and shivered. "Eurgh, that gives me the creeps," she said in her normal, telepathic voice. We all stared. She looked around at us, and when her gaze met Deoxys's, I noticed him turn purple and look away again. "What's wrong?" she asked us.

"What was that?" I asked back. Mew did another backflip.

"It was a recording," she stated, before (of course) breaking out into another fit of giggles. Brandon looked around confusedly.

"A recording of who?" he asked, once Mew stopped giggling.

"It's a secret," she answered, and giggled again. We waited again for her to stop giggling. Then she looked at us and said, uncharacteristically sadly, "I have to go now."

"Why?" Deoxys asked suddenly. We all looked at him, and he glanced around awkwardly. "I mean… of course… but…"

Mew giggled and floated over to him. He again turned a little purple and looked at the trees next to the path.

"Don't worry, you'll see me again soon," she said, before suddenly darting forward and kissing him lightly on the cheek. Deoxys turned an even darker shade of purple and stumbled backwards, falling into the snow. Mew giggled and disappeared in a flash of light.

Brandon glanced first at me, floating next to him and appearing somewhat confused, then at Deoxys, sitting in the snow and looking dazed. "That was… strange," he commented.


	21. Jupiter

Chapter 21 – Jupiter

**Chapter 21 – Jupiter**

"What's wrong?" I asked Deoxys as he stood back up, somewhat unsteadily. He shook his head.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Let's go."

We continued north through the snow.

.

Snow began to drift down from the sky. We increased our pace, to try to reach our destination before it began snowing too much. There was no conversation, it was too cold for that. And besides, I think we were all wondering about Mew's message, and the strange "recording". The recording had said the same thing that Cresselia had, except that it had added some things to it.

And now I remembered what I had seen when I was stuck in the mud. I wasn't sure how I had seen it, or if it was normal or anything. But I had heard the same thing then, too, also with a bit added on to it. And what I had heard then was also part of what Mew's recording said. I didn't understand any of it, but it gave me a feeling that somehow we were all being played with by someone in the background, someone who knew fully what was going on. And that there was something that I didn't know.

As I pondered these thoughts, a wall of trees suddenly appeared in front of us, some distance away. The snow was coming down harder now, limiting our visibility and chilling us all. Deoxys had given in and was shivering openly now, and I was constantly trying to shake off the snow that landed on me.

"There's a path through those trees," Deoxys said. Luckily he and I didn't have to worry about chattering teeth when we talked, because we had none. Brandon wasn't so lucky.

"I-I think-k th-that's-s th-the w-way t-to the l-lak-ke," he said. I barely understood him, but I did understand.

"What about the main path?" I asked. "It turns right here."

"S-snowp-point-t C-city," Brandon answered. I understood. From the map he had shown me, Snowpoint City was east of Lake Acuity, which was where we wanted to go. So we continued north toward the trees and the path that Deoxys had seen.

Soon, we entered the tiny pathway through the trees, and were relieved to find that the trees shielded us at least partially from the cold and the snow.

However, we quickly learned not to touch the trees, for the first few times when we made that mistake, the tree promptly dumped all of its collected snow onto whoever was so unfortunate. We stuck to the middle of the path to avoid accidentally brushing by the trees. Eventually, we spotted a light ahead.

"It looks like that's the way to the lake!" Brandon exclaimed. As we drew nearer to it, I noticed some shadows moving across the light.

"Something's moving up there," I noted.

"It could be Uxie," Brandon replied. "He's supposed to live at this lake."

"No," Deoxys said, peering intently at the light that was growing nearer each second. "There's more than one…" Suddenly his eyes widened. "Quick, get off the path!"

We hurried off the path and into the trees, getting snow dumped onto us on multiple occasions. "What is it?" Brandon whispered.

"Team Galactic," Deoxys hissed in my mind. "I recognized one of them."

"Let's try to get closer and see what they're doing," I suggested. Brandon nodded.

We slowly worked our way closer to the light, staying in the trees and continuously being covered in snow. Eventually we got to a position where we could see through the leaves of the vegetation, but the various figures we were observing could not see us.

The aforementioned various figures consisted of about five humans, all dressed in the same black and white rubber suits that the Galactics we had seen before had worn. Four of them had blue hair identical to that of the others, but the last one had purple hair with a knob of it sticking out in the back and the top. The purple-haired one was facing away from us and toward the other Galactics and shouting.

"What's taking him so long? He said he took scuba classes! You," she said, pointing to one of the others, who were all trying to look busy. He stood up. "Go get the Quellor in case we need it." He nodded and rushed off down the path we had just come up.

"Oh, no," Deoxys said, sounding nervous suddenly. "They brought it here?"

Brandon looked at him curiously, but didn't speak for fear of being heard. I asked the question instead.

"They brought what here?"

Deoxys turned his head to stare at me. "The Quellor, that's what they call their new machine. It's designed to trap and… torture Pokemon, in order to keep them from resisting. They used it on me…" He shivered, and I decided it must be a very terrible thing if it could scare a six-foot-tall alien with superpowers at just the mention of its name.

Suddenly our attention was diverted back to the Galactics as something emerged from the water. It was a human wearing a strange mask with a long pole sticking out of it. He threw something to the shore. Brandon gasped slightly before covering his mouth, but luckily the Galactics didn't notice.

It looked like Azelf, except it had a yellow, creased, bowl-shaped growth on top of its head rather than Azelf's dark blue, pointy growth. Its eyes were closed, and it did nothing except lay on the snow limply as the Galactics gathered around it. The human in the water, who was a member of Team Galactic, also, I could tell by his clothing and hair, came out of the lake and removed his mask. He was holding a long metal tube with various implements attached to it.

"I missed it a few times, but I eventually got it," he said with evident pride. "The tranquilizer works very well."

"It should stay out for a few minutes," said the Galactic with the purple hair. "Now where is the jewel? Saturn said that Azelf's was on its tail…"

She turned over one of the creature's tails and discovered a red gem identical to the one that Azelf had given us. "I found it," she exclaimed, before pulling it off. The yellow and blue creature flinched in its evident sleep.

"We have Uxie's link now," one of the other Galactics said. "Now we just have to wait for Mars to report success on Mesprit's."

The purple-haired one looked around, still holding the gem. "Now where is that fool with the Quellor…?"

Suddenly there was a noise as someone entered the clearing. "Ah," she said, turning around. "Right on cue…"

She trailed off as she realized that the person she was looking at wasn't the right person. Deoxys and I stared at Brandon, then simultaneously turned to where he had been a moment before. He was gone, confirming to my brain what my eye already knew.

"Leave Uxie alone," Brandon demanded angrily. The purple-haired Galactic smiled.

"Of course." She turned to one of the others. "Put Uxie back in." The other Galactic nodded, then picked up the blue and yellow creature, evidently Uxie, and threw it into the lake.

Uxie hit the water with a splash and sank back down. The human with the purple hair turned back to Brandon.

"Now, I'll just have to ask you to get out of our way."

Brandon shook his head. "No. Give back what you stole."

She froze. "We were watched," she hissed to one of the other Galactics. "What happened to the sentries?"

Deoxys stiffened. "Sentries!" I didn't know what that meant. At least, not until I heard a noise behind me.

Deoxys and I both turned to see another Galactic standing behind us, frozen with shock. He then started yelling. "I found spies!"

The situation erupted into confusion as Galactics rushed around. I was grabbed by a human, and I tried to break away, but the grip was too strong. I couldn't use my attack, because that would be disobeying the Founder, so I was helpless to do anything as I was pulled by multiple hands out of the trees. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Brandon was also subdued similarly.

"One of them got away," one of the Galactics informed the purple-haired one. "It looked like… Deoxys." She looked at him angrily.

"That's impossible. Deoxys is in Veilstone somewhere." Just then, Deoxys emerged from the trees. All of the Galactics stared.

"No," he said, "I'm right here."

After a few moments, the purple-haired Galactic began shouting. "Get him! Where _is_ that machine? Find it!" None of the Galactics moved, apparently because they didn't want to be vaporized by Deoxys. Deoxys looked at her.

"I challenge you to a Pokemon battle," he said. "If I win, you let them go." He gestured at Brandon and me. "If you win… then I'll surrender."

The purple-haired Galactic laughed. "No one can defeat Jupiter," she proclaimed, producing a Poke Ball. "And that's me. I'll show you what happens to anyone who messes with Team Galactic!"


	22. Quellor

Chapter 22 – Quellor

**Chapter 22 – Quellor**

Jupiter released her Pokemon from her Poke Ball. It was a large, furry, purple Pokemon with white stripes running across its back. Its large tail fell forward across its face.

"One on one," Jupiter called.

Deoxys nodded and assumed a battle-ready position as he prepared to fight for our lives. Jupiter's Pokemon growled.

"Skuntank, Flamethrower!"

The purple and white Pokemon, presumably Skuntank, lifted up its tail and aimed the end at Deoxys. Deoxys floated into the air and hovered.

Suddenly a stream of flames shot out of the end of Skuntank's tail and toward Deoxys. Deoxys floated out of the way just in time, and the flames instead set fire to a tree behind him. The fire was immediately put out by the snow.

Deoxys then attacked. Black light streamed from his eyes, hitting Skuntank and causing it to reel backwards.

"Toxic!" Jupiter commanded.

Skuntank aimed its tail at Deoxys again, but this time a purple liquid was shot out. Deoxys attempted to float out of the way, but he was slower this time, and I noticed that while he dodged most of it, a little bit of the liquid was splashed onto his side. It disappeared after a few seconds.

Deoxys winced and, forming a hand, grabbed his side as if he were in pain. Which, I supposed, he probably was. Jupiter laughed.

"How does it feel? Toxic gets worse as time goes on, until eventually…" She smiled.

Deoxys's eyes glowed. Skuntank was surrounded by a purple light, and it began to fly towards a large snow-covered tree, much to its dismay and that of its trainer.

Jupiter shouted out orders, but her Skuntank was unable to do anything to stop itself as it was slammed into the tree. It was immediately covered in snow as it fell back to the ground, dazed.

"Get up!" Jupiter yelled at her Pokemon. It got unsteadily to its feet.

Deoxys's chest crystal began to glow.

"Use Smokescreen, Skuntank!"

Black gas began to pour from Skuntank's tail. The gas covered it and the surrounding area, hiding it from view. The next second, a white beam shot from Deoxys's crystal and into the cloud. A loud explosion sounded, and the cloud of black gas was dispersed. A large crater was where Skuntank had been. I glanced at Deoxys from where I was still being held by the Galactics, and to my shock, Skuntank was right behind him, creeping up on him. But his back was turned, and he didn't notice.

Before I had a chance to warn him, Jupiter spoke.

"Use Night Slash!"

Skuntank suddenly rushed at Deoxys, its claws glowing black. Deoxys spun in time to be scratched across his face. With a telepathic cry of surprise and pain, he reeled backwards, holding his face.

Skuntank jumped at him and scratched him on his left shoulder, then quickly rushed around him and scratched him across his back. He flinched and fell limply forward onto the snow. Skuntank raised its claw to strike the finishing blow.

Then Deoxys's two left arms struck out at it, knocking it backwards. He got up unsteadily and faced Skuntank. His eyes glowed again, and Skuntank was again surrounded by purple light. Skuntank went flying into another tree. When it fell, it was raised back up and slammed into the ground.

Skuntank didn't get up. It opened its eyes and looked at Deoxys angrily and tried to stand, but its legs gave out. It lay on the ground weakly and growled, then it closed its eyes.

Deoxys fell to the ground wearily and sat on the snow, using a tree for support. "I… win…" he said tiredly, before his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Skuntank began to shake. It opened its eyes wide. Then it aimed its tail at Deoxys.

Compressed purple gas exploded out of the end of its tail. The stream of gas collided with Deoxys at high speed, sending him crashing through the tree he had been leaning against and through several others. He finally landed face-down in the snow that covered the path to the lake. Skuntank then went limp and closed its eyes again.

Jupiter recalled Skuntank as Brandon and I watched in horror. She walked to a spot near where Deoxys was lying, looked at him, and said, "No, I win."

The Galactics cheered. Brandon and I were desolate. Then another Galactic came up the path, pulling a large black sphere behind him by a rope. The cheering stopped, and Jupiter glared at him angrily.

"Where have you been with that?" she demanded. He stopped.

"It's heavy," he protested, before continuing to drag the sphere up the path.

"We don't even need…" Jupiter started, before looking down at Deoxys and smiling sinisterly. "No, we can still use it."

Brandon and I watched helplessly as a door in the sphere was opened and Deoxys, still unconscious, was loaded inside. It was hollow but had small devices on one side, which was currently the bottom. The Galactics shut the door with an ominous clang.

Then Jupiter pressed a few buttons on the sides, and it became transparent. We could see Deoxys curled up inside it limply. Then she pressed another button and stepped back.

Suddenly Deoxys began to glow white, and crackles of energy raced across his skin. His eyes flew open and he began to writhe in pain. I heard a telepathic screaming in my mind.

Jupiter smiled. "This is what happens to anyone who resists us," she said, before glancing at Brandon, who simply stared at Deoxys in horror.

Deoxys continued to thrash as he glowed brighter. After a few moments, Jupiter motioned to one of the other Galactics. He stepped towards the sphere and pressed a few buttons. The lights stopped, and Deoxys fell limp. Jupiter walked up to the sphere.

"You lost," she said to Deoxys, who stared at her with clouded eyes. "Too bad."

Then Deoxys screamed again as the machine turned back on. He writhed in agony as he was again enveloped in crackling energy. After a few minutes, Jupiter pressed another button.

Deoxys collapsed. "Stop," he pleaded. "I'll do anything…"

Jupiter smiled wickedly. "Anything?"

"Don't give in!" I called to Deoxys. He looked up at me wearily, eyes clouded over and unfocused.

After a moment, he turned his head back to Jupiter resignedly. "No…"

Jupiter frowned. She leaned over the sphere and pressed more buttons. Deoxys's torture started again.

Suddenly, the lake began bubbling.


	23. Uxie

Chapter 23 – Uxie

**Chapter 23 – Uxie**

The sphere glowed once. Then it exploded outwards, leaving Deoxys to fall to the snow, still instinctively curled into a protective ball, and everyone else to dodge the shards. I was pulled around by my captors some while they were doing this, but eventually I stopped moving and could see again.

Uxie floated out of the lake. For some reason his eyes were still closed, but he seemed to be awake. I heard a telepathic voice come from him, directed toward the Galactics, who were being shouted at be Jupiter and generally trying to figure out what to do.

"You may be able to capture me while I am sleeping, but _no one_ can get away with _anything_ while I am awake!" Then I heard him say in a smaller voice in my head, "Close your eyes."

I closed my eye. Suddenly the Galactics stopped shouting, and everything was silent. I started to open my eye, but then Uxie warned, "Not yet. I will notify you when it is safe."

After a short time I heard him again in my head. "You may open your eyes now."

I did so, and noticed Brandon doing the same out of the corner of my eye. What I saw stunned me.

Even though the Galactics were still in the exact same positions as before, they were not moving. All of their eyes were wide open, but expressionless, as if they were in a trance. After a few moments, Brandon asked the question.

"What happened?"

"They saw my eyes," Uxie explained. "Anyone who sees them will have their memories wiped. That is why I keep them closed most of the time."

Then the Galactics began moving again. They shook their heads as if they had been asleep, then stared around with uncomprehending eyes. Finally they all began to walk out of the lake area through the path.

"They will start new lives, hopefully better ones," Uxie said. Then I noticed something.

"Jupiter isn't there," I commented.

"I know," Uxie responded. "She knew the legends and turned away. Then she escaped."

"Should we go after her?" Brandon asked worriedly. "She has the jewel."

"No, even though I know where she is now, by the time you reached that location, she would have moved already. No, right now, Deoxys needs help. The Toxic grows worse by the moment." Uxie motioned towards where Deoxys was still curled up in the snow, eyes closed but occasionally twitching in discomfort.

Brandon knelt in front of him. "Deoxys, are you okay?"

Deoxys opened his eyes, looked around, and cringed. "Ah – do I – Ow – look okay?"

"No, not really," Brandon conceded. Deoxys grabbed his side in pain as he tried to stand up. He didn't get far before he fell back to the ground.

"We may be having company very soon," Uxie suddenly said. "How unfortunate timing."

We all looked up, when suddenly a small pink figure flew out of the trees by the path.

"DEOXYS!!" Mew screamed before finally coming to a stop a short distance away from us. We all stared at her, and her face turned red. She quickly landed and buried her head under the snow.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, until Uxie said, "Mew, you're late as always."

Mew peeked out of the snow at him. "I am not always late! And I was miles away before I heard Deoxys, and I can't teleport that far very easily. And I can't teleport too many times in a row."

"Indeed," Uxie replied. "You're still too late."

Deoxys raised his head and looked up at where Mew was halfway underneath the snow. "You… came back…" he said weakly. "Thank you…" Then his eyes closed and his head dropped.

Mew pulled her head out of the snow and rushed to Deoxys, floating opposite the side where Brandon was kneeling. She stared at him worriedly. "What's wrong with him?" she asked.

"Toxic," Uxie replied. Mew's already large eyes widened. I wondered now why it was that Mew was being serious.

Mew looked down at the unconscious Deoxys, who had begun to twitch violently. She then reached down and touched his chest crystal with one tiny finger.

A white light covered Deoxys. We looked on with interest as the light began to swirl around him. He stopped moving and looked calm.

Suddenly Uxie cried out in telepathy, "No, Mew! Don't do that!"

Mew didn't appear to hear. The lights then left Deoxys and traveled up her finger and arm, and began to swirl around her the same way. She suddenly cried out and jerked away, but the lights continued to cover her. She fell down to the snow and began to writhe, tail whipping around. Brandon rose and began to approach her, concerned, but then Uxie said, "Don't bother, there is nothing you can do now. Mew has Synchronized with Deoxys and removed the Toxic from him, at the price of assuming it herself. A very stupid decision, for she is not as strong as he is."

The lights began to fade, sinking into Mew's skin. She stopped writhing and instead lay on the snow disturbingly motionless, with her eyes closed and breathing heavily. She opened one eye and glanced at Deoxys.

"It's all I can do…" she said wearily before her eye closed again.


	24. Payment

Chapter 24 – Payment

**Chapter 24 – Payment**

Brandon and I stared in shock at the two figures sprawled motionless across the snow next to each other.

"What now?" I asked.

"Find help," Uxie advised. "I can do nothing for them."

Brandon nodded and started towards Deoxys and Mew, then stopped. "The closest place where we can get help is Snowpoint," he started, "but how will we get them there? Deoxys alone is too heavy for me to lift, not to mention Mew as well."

"Take Mew first. She is in better health than Deoxys right now, but the Toxic will soon end that," Uxie said gravely, motioning towards Mew, who was beginning to twitch. "Come back for Deoxys. I will protect him in your absence."

Brandon nodded. He bent over to carefully pick Mew up. She stirred slightly but didn't wake. Brandon began to walk towards the path that led from the lake, carrying the limp form of Mew. I turned to follow him.

"Brandon," Uxie said. Brandon stopped and turned slightly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There are many people who would like to kidnap Mew for one reason or another. Guard her closely."

Brandon nodded. "Don't worry, I will."

We left Lake Acuity, carrying a new passenger but leaving another behind. At least, for the moment.

.

Deoxys awakened slowly and looked around. He was still lying in the snow by Lake Acuity. No one else was in sight. He tried to remember how he had gotten there.

Then he remembered. The fight with Skuntank, being trapped in the Quellor, the Toxic, and then… Mew. Deoxys's green face turned purple slightly when he remembered this. But then, he wondered, where did they all go? And why did he feel better all of a sudden?

"You're awake now," a voice said in his mind. Deoxys sat up and looked around.

Uxie emerged from the lake and floated above its surface. "I am Uxie, the Being of Knowledge."

Deoxys nodded slightly. He vaguely remembered Uxie. "What… happened?"

"Mew Synchronized with you and assumed your ailment." Deoxys's eyes widened and he stiffened.

"What?! Is she all right?"

Uxie nodded. "Yes. Brandon took her to Snowpoint City and found help. She is being treated now."

Deoxys relaxed, relieved. "Why, though?"

"That's not strictly my department. Mesprit could explain it better, but," Uxie said, "I assume that it's because she cares about you."

Deoxys stared into space dazedly as Uxie, observing this reaction without seeing, chuckled softly and sank back into the lake.

.

Brandon stayed true to his word. He stayed by Mew for the entire night, sleeping on the floor. The humans who worked at Snowpoint's Pokemon Center were shocked when Brandon brought Mew in, but had readily agreed to heal her, even increasing the Center's security to prevent anyone from stealing her while she was unconscious. I assumed that this was because, as Brandon said, Mew was a powerful and legendary Pokemon. I stayed with Brandon and Mew through the night, too, not needing to sleep.

Mew twitched periodically inside her glass life-support system, the same thing I had been in twice. Once, in the middle of the night, she had even started thrashing violently, nearly cracking both the glass cover and her head, and after that she was strapped to the table to prevent her from hurting herself.

The sun finally rose, to find a worn-out Brandon sleeping on the floor, Mew strapped down inside the life-support system, and a blue Unown watching. Then, Mew's tail twitched.

Mew opened her eyes. She looked around confusedly and pulled against the straps. "What… where am I?"

"You're in the Snowpoint City Pokemon Center," I told her. She looked at me and calmed down.

"Why are these…?" Mew tugged on the straps. I understood.

"You were thrashing, so they put those on you to keep you from injuring yourself."

"Oh." Mew put her head back down. "I guess they're not needed anymore, then?"

"I suppose not, since you're awake now," I said. "But I don't know how to take them off…"

Mew's eyes glowed purple, and all of the rubber straps snapped in the center simultaneously. At the noise, Brandon jolted awake.

Mew collapsed back down, breathing heavily, apparently worn out from using her powers so soon after recovering. Brandon stared at her, confused as to why the straps were split.

"Mew's awake now," I told him, somewhat unnecessarily. He had taken his head-set radio off, but another, larger one in the room picked up my broadcast. He nodded.

Mew turned her head to him. "Where's Deoxys?"

Brandon looked around, suddenly nervous. "Well, he's back at the lake…"

"What? You _left_ him there?!" Mew's eyes began to glow purple.

Brandon backed up slightly. "Well, he was heavy, and you were in the most danger…"

The glass cover shattered and all the pieces fell to the floor. "There was a _reason_ I did that! I wanted you to get help for Deoxys FIRST!"

Mew began to float upwards, looking very angry. I moved backwards apprehensively until I hit a wall, and Brandon replicated the motion. Suddenly Mew fell back down and closed her eyes. After a moment, they opened again.

"Ow, so dizzy…" she telepathically moaned.

Brandon looked at me, appearing slightly relieved. "Are you alright?" he asked Mew, not without hesitation.

"Ow, my head hurts…"

Brandon sighed. This was going to take a while.

.

At around midday we set off back for Lake Acuity, Mew having recovered sufficiently and Brandon and I having managed to placate her. The sun was high, and though there were clouds, there was no sign of snow, which was more good news.

After about half an hour, we arrived back at the path that led to the lake. Brandon trudged through the snow, and Mew and I floated alongside him, Mew occasionally throwing glares at Brandon or me.

We soon emerged into the large clearing that held Lake Acuity. Deoxys was sitting on the snow with his back to us. As soon as she saw him, Mew instantly brightened up.

"Deoxys!"

Deoxys turned in time to be tackled by nine pounds of Mew. She latched on to him and hugged him. He stood up and turned purple again.

"You're alright," he observed hesitantly, then hugged Mew back. Brandon backed away into the trees and pulled me with him, but neither of them seemed to notice us. Mew giggled at Deoxys.

"I was worried about you," she said, and nuzzled him. His purple shade darkened.

"You… were…?"

"Yes, of course I was, silly," Mew said, giggling again. Deoxys hesitated.

"Thanks…" he said, as they let go. His face regained some of its green coloring.

"For what?"

"For… healing me," Deoxys said, "even though it would hurt you."

Mew giggled. "You would do the same for me." She then kissed him on the cheek. He turned dark purple again and looked dazed.

Mew continued giggling. "I told you."

Deoxys snapped out of his dazed state. "What?"

"That you would see me again soon." Mew laughed as Deoxys turned purple again.

"Oh."

Next to me, Brandon laughed quietly. "It looks like Deoxys has a girlfriend," he whispered, grinning. We continued watching.

Mew kissed Deoxys in the center of his face, causing him to stumble slightly and his eyes to widen, but luckily for him, he didn't fall. Then Uxie emerged from the lake.

"Are you going to stand there kissing all day or get on with what you're supposed to be doing?"

Mew and Deoxys separated, startled, looked at Uxie, then both became red and purple, respectively, looking at various objects around the lake.

"Don't try to act like that wasn't what you were doing," Uxie threatened. "I know _everything_." As they both deepened in their respective colors, he chuckled. "Besides, there are two _other_ witnesses."

Brandon emerged, taking me with him. Both Mew and Deoxys turned toward us and darkened even more in color. Brandon looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I couldn't help seeing…"

I broke away from Brandon's grip. Everyone stared at me. I looked around confusedly. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

Uxie laughed again, then turned serious. "Brandon, come here."

Brandon walked to the edge of the lake, looking apprehensive. I stared after him, and the other two members of our small group simply looked around, embarrassed.

When Brandon had reached the edge, Uxie extended one of his tails. A red gem flashed in the end. "This belongs to you now. Take it, guard it, because you will need it."

Brandon reverently reached out and pulled it from Uxie's tail. Like Azelf's, it came off easily, and also like Azelf, Uxie flinched as it was taken.

"Are you alright?" Brandon asked him. Uxie nodded.

"I'm quite fine. But the gem is attached to me through a psychic bond, and when it is broken, it causes physical pain for a moment. But don't worry, I'm fine."

Brandon turned and smiled happily. "We're almost there, only one more…" He trailed off as he saw that Mew was kissing Deoxys again. He turned away, embarrassed. Uxie simply chuckled softly and submerged back under the waters of Lake Acuity.


	25. Kyogre

Chapter 25 – Kyogre

**Chapter 25 – Kyogre**

We shortly departed Lake Acuity and went southward, back towards Mount Coronet. According to Brandon, the final lake, Lake Verity, was near his hometown of Twinleaf Town. From his map, Deoxys and I saw that it was far away to the southwest. Mew knew anyway and didn't bother looking at the map.

Speaking (or writing) of Mew, she had volunteered to come with us. We accepted, which pleased both her and Deoxys. I, on the other hand, found it interesting to watch their various color changes, similar to Latias's.

"Is there no easier way to get to Lake Verity?" I asked somewhat rhetorically, after we figured out our route. Brandon glanced up at me.

"Yes, there is," he answered, to my surprise. Then he glanced over at Mew, who was floating by Deoxys's shoulder. "We could take a boat. It would be faster."

Mew looked up at him. "Did you even listen to me? I said not to take a boat."

Brandon grinned slyly. "But who told you to say that? Are you going to keep it a secret even from your new 'boyfriend'?" Deoxys looked up sharply, and Mew reddened.

"What!... why are… I don't… wait…" Mew stammered. Brandon laughed.

"Is that a no?"

"Yes, I mean no… wait, you're confusing me!"

Brandon laughed again. "Okay then, how about this: Who gave you that message?"

Mew stopped moving and hovered, and the rest of us stopped and turned. Mew looked around at us, all waiting. She paled.

"…I… I'm not… allowed to tell…" she said hesitantly.

"Why not?" I asked. Mew paled further.

"Because…" she started, then suddenly she looked past us. "Look!"

I turned and looked in the direction she was looking. I saw nothing but trees.

"That won't work," Brandon said. Mew burst into tears.

Brandon looked shocked. Deoxys rushed forward to comfort her, shooting a glare at Brandon. I floated nearby, looking confused, like usual.

"Why don't you trust me?" Mew cried in telepathy.

"Because you're keeping secrets from us," Brandon replied, though not unkindly.

Meanwhile, I had been staring in the direction that Mew had been looking, trying to see what she had seen. Then, past the trees, I saw a spout of water blow high into the air and then collapse back down.

"There really is something there," I told Brandon. "There's water in the air, and it isn't rain." Brandon stared at me.

"What?" He turned to where I was facing. "I don't see anything."

Mew stopped crying. "There is something, and I know what it is." She wiped her face, then shot off toward the trees. "Follow me!"

Brandon sighed, and we started after her.

We entered the forest to the west of the main path and were promptly covered in snow. We followed Mew's telepathic voice until we burst out of the woods and, to my surprise, onto a sandy beach.

When we emerged, covered in snow, Mew giggled from where she was hovering a few feet away. "Look over there!" she said, pointing to a spot in the ocean. We looked.

"I… don't see anything," I told her.

"Wait."

Suddenly, a large blue object broke the surface of the water near the spot indicated, and a jet of water shot into the air high above it.

"See?" Mew said happily, somersaulting in place. We all stared at it.

"What is it?" Brandon asked. "It looks to big for a Wailmer and too small for a Wailord."

Mew giggled. "Don't you know?"

The object began to move toward us. At first, it moved slowly, then quickly accelerated, moving faster than I could float. Soon it was close enough that we could see its basic features.

It was mostly blue, with some red and white. It had two huge fins, one on each side, and the fins each had five white finger-like appendages on them. We couldn't see much else of it, because it was facing us and still so far off that we couldn't see many details. It went back underwater.

Brandon had a look of recognition on his face. "That was… Kyogre."

Mew giggled happily and did a backflip. "That's right!"

Brandon opened his mouth to say more, when suddenly the water right in front of us on the beach exploded. Brandon and Deoxys stumbled backwards, and Mew and I floated out of the way. Once we all were a safe distance away, we watched as the water rolled off the sides of a massive creature that was surfacing. A thick stream of water spouted from somewhere on its back, reaching high into the air and drenching the tops of a few trees, not to mention us.

Kyogre was a spectacular sight up close. It had two huge yellow eyes, each almost as big as Brandon's head, and its two fins covered an impressive area. Two flat blue horns topped its head, and red stripes ran across its body in peculiar patterns. It opened its mouth to reveal two rows of many razor sharp teeth and began whistling.

Brandon, Deoxys, and I watched confusedly as Kyogre made a variety of whistling and clicking noises. After a few seconds, it closed its cavernous mouth.

Mew seemed to understand, though. She giggled. "She says that she's here to help us reach Lake Verity faster."

"How?" I asked confusedly. Mew giggled again.

"We ride on her, of course!"

Soon we were all on Kyogre's back and heading south at a surprising speed. Kyogre opened her mouth and made more noises.

"She says we'll reach the human's port by tomorrow," Mew translated. I landed on an unoccupied part of Kyogre's back and watched the huge, wide tail adjust according to our directions. I noticed Brandon approach Mew unsteadily, making his way across Kyogre's back despite the movements. She looked at him.

"I'm sorry," he said to her. "I know I was acting like a jerk a few minutes ago…"

Mew landed on the wide, blue, rubbery surface. "It's alright, no harm done."

"Thanks," Brandon mumbled. Mew giggled and flew off.

Later, when the sun began to set, I noticed Mew land next to Deoxys, who was sitting and watching the ocean, like me. He looked over at her. After a few moments, he spoke (not aloud, of course).

"I have something to ask you…"

"Yes?"

"You never answered Orian's question. Why aren't you allowed to tell us who gave you the message?"

Mew suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Well, he said not to tell you anything besides the recording…"

"He?"

Mew gasped. "Wait, did I say… no…" She began to cry a little.

Deoxys looked startled. "What's wrong? Did I say something?"

"No…" Mew said, sniffling. "It's just… _no one_ disobeys… without a _penalty_…" She began to cry more forcefully. "I said too much!"

Deoxys wrapped his tentacles around her. "Don't worry, I'll protect you. I'm sorry I said anything." Mew stopped crying and looked up at him.

"Thank you… I feel better now…" She kissed Deoxys and hugged him, and his green face turned purple.

Then it became dark, and we slept on the rocking surface of Kyogre's back. At least, all but me.


	26. Canalave

Chapter 26 – Canalave

**Chapter 26 – Canalave**

Eventually, dawn came. Brandon woke up first. His eyes slowly opened, and he stretched. He looked around and saw, as I did, that there was nothing but ocean visible past the edges of Kyogre's back. Then he saw Deoxys and Mew sleeping, Mew curled up on top of Deoxys's crystal. He laughed quietly.

"Good morning," he said to me.

"Good morning," I said back.

With that, Brandon sat and watched the waves. After all, what else was there to do?

.

Soon, Deoxys woke. He opened his eyes, looked at Mew, then closed them again. Then they flew back open and he turned dark purple. He carefully removed Mew from his chest and gently placed her beside him. Then he sat up and looked around, his face returning to its natural color.

He stood up unsteadily (due to the movement of Kyogre) and moved nearer to Brandon. Brandon laughed softly, and Deoxys turned purple again and looked away in embarrassment. Then Brandon said, "Good morning."

Deoxys looked back at him, a lighter shade of purple now. "Yes, it is." Brandon snickered, and Deoxys became an even darker purple before glaring at Brandon and moving away to sit next to the sleeping Mew. Brandon laughed harder.

After a few minutes, though, we all returned to watching the sky go from orange to blue, and watching Kyogre silently but quickly cut through the water.

.

Finally, the last member of our small party awoke. Mew uncurled, then yawned and stretched, arching her back. Then she glanced around at her surroundings.

The sky was blue with just a tinge of orange in it, and still there was nothing but water as far as anyone could see. Deoxys looked down at Mew from where he was sitting next to her.

"Good morning," he said to her.

"Good morning," she replied happily, before floating up to kiss him on the cheek. He again turned slightly purple and looked away. Behind me, I heard Brandon snicker quietly.

Mew landed next to Deoxys again and sat facing the ocean. "It's wonderful, isn't it?"

Deoxys looked down at her, then back at the water. "Yes." Mew giggled and floated up to hug him, causing him to turn dark purple and, a few seconds later, return the gesture awkwardly.

Then Kyogre opened her mouth and began making the same sorts of noises as before. Mew and Deoxys released each other, and Mew floated away to sit in the middle of Kyogre's back, reddening slightly when she saw Brandon and me. Deoxys also saw us and his face turned purple again.

"Um… Kyogre says there's land ahead," Mew notified us all. She listened to Kyogre a little longer, then added, "We should reach it in a few hours."

We then returned to what we had been doing all the afternoon yesterday and that morning: Watching the ocean.

.

Roughly three hours later, by Brandon's reckoning, we spotted what Kyogre had spotted three hours earlier: land. We soon reached the shore of a forest.

We disembarked Kyogre and thanked her. With many clicks and whistles, she returned to the ocean.

Then Mew pointed in a direction. "She said that the port was that way; east." Brandon nodded.

"The port is Canalave City. Once we reach it, we just have to go east to Jubilife City, then south to Sandgem Town, and finally west to the lake. It's not far, all the towns and cities are close together around here."

We set off towards Canalave City.

.

Soon, we emerged from the forest and into Canalave City. Before we went any farther, though, we stopped to discuss our plans.

"Mew and Deoxys, neither of you can be seen," he told them.

"Why not?" Deoxys asked. Mew nodded her support of the question.

"I've been thinking," Brandon began, "and I think it's not safe. Team Galactic is everywhere."

Deoxys stated, "I think we can take care of Team Galactic. Especially now that they don't have that machine of theirs."

Brandon hesitated, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, that's not the only reason. No offense, Deoxys, but you scare people. And Mew, I'm concerned that other people might try to kidnap you or something. I just don't know how people will react."

We all considered these points. Finally Deoxys nodded. "I want Mew to stay behind, and I'll stay with her."

Mew slapped him playfully (I think) with the end of her tail. "Don't I get a say in this, too?" Deoxys flinched.

Mew giggled. "Don't worry, I'll stay."

Brandon nodded, looking relieved. "I'll find a place for us to stay the night, then come and get you two."

I interjected. "Why can't we continue to Jubilife today? There's enough time left in the day, if you're right about the distances."

Brandon looked at me. "Well, you see, there's a river running through the middle of the route, and I don't remember there being any bridges. You all can just float across, but I can't, and I haven't figured out a way across yet." Then he added apologetically, "I'm sorry if I'm holding you up, Orian. If you want, you can go without me today, and I'll catch up later."

I immediately rejected the idea. "No, you've done so much to help me, the least I can do is wait for you."

Brandon nodded. "Thanks."

Soon, Brandon and I entered Canalave City. We (or strictly, Brandon) asked around about a place to stay the night, and were told varying things.

"No, there aren't any hotels in Canalave," one human told us. "You'll have to find lodging with a resident."

Another human had a different story. "Well, there is one inn," he said thoughtfully, "but it's been closed for fifty years. No one's sure why, but it's been passed down through families, and right now it's owned by a sailor who goes by the name of Eldritch. It should still be in working order, and he may let you stay there."

Brandon thanked him, and we left to find the residence of this sailor, Eldritch.

Soon we obtained directions to his house, and following them, we ended up in front of a small white house with a blue roof that was situated near the docks for the boats. Brandon knocked, and shortly the door was opened by a human with curly, long brown hair and red and white clothes. "Hello?" she said, looking at Brandon.

"Hello, I'm looking for the sailor, Eldritch," he said. "I need to talk to him."

"Oh, my husband? He's down by the docks with his boat, like he always is," she told us, then laughed ruefully. "That is, when he's not eating or sleeping."

"Thank you," Brandon said. She smiled and closed the door.

We went to the dock and found only one human there, who appeared to be absorbed in the task of making large quantities of rope. He was wearing white and blue clothes, a white hat, and a long red thing hanging down his chest. We approached him.

"Are you Eldritch?" Brandon inquired. He looked up.

"Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"Hi, my name is Brandon, and I was hoping you could help me. I just got here, and I and my Pokemon have nowhere to spend the night. I heard that you owned the only inn, but that it was closed… And I was wondering if you would let me stay there. If it still works, that is."

Eldritch stopped what he was doing and put down everything. He stood up and stared at Brandon.

"You don't want to stay at that inn. There are stories that it's haunted and whatnot, but for some reason or other, it was closed fifty years ago by my wife's great grandfather and never opened again. I still maintain it, but only because that's what my wife's grandfather and father did. No one stays there if they can help it. You should stay at the Pokemon Center lobby or something."

Brandon considered this, then replied, "Still, I want to stay there. Because of my… situation, I need to be alone. I'll pay you for everything, too. Don't worry, I've got my Pokemon. Even if it is haunted, I can take care of a few Gastly or whatever it is."

Eldritch thought for a minute. "All right, but I hope you're prepared. Whatever happens, I'm not responsible." Brandon nodded.

"Here's the key." Eldritch took a brown, worn card from his pocket and handed it to Brandon. "It's in disuse, but still functional. You have to provide your own food and water; I'm not sure about the state of the pipes."

"I understand."

Brandon began to walk away, and I floated after him. Behind me, I heard Eldritch mutter, "I hope the kid makes it. No Gastly in _that_ inn."


	27. Whispers

Chapter 27 – Whispers

**Chapter 27 – Whispers**

Brandon and I returned to where we had left Deoxys and Mew, and found them still there, watching the leaves on the trees move with the wind. He informed them of our success, and of all the facts about the inn. They agreed to come with us.

Once it became dark not too long later, we all entered Canalave silently and made our way to the inn, with directions on the card we had been given by Eldritch. Soon we stood before a small white and blue building by the water. Brandon approached the door, card key in hand.

He found a slot for it, and slid it in. There was a faint click, and he retracted it and put it in his backpack. Slowly he opened the door, to find…

A large room, with a small kitchen, which I recognized from those of the hotels that Brandon and I had stayed at before. Three green doors were in the wall opposite us, and next to the one on the right, there was a pile of the material Brandon called "wood". We entered hesitantly, and Brandon turned on the lights.

Once we were all inside, Deoxys closed the door, and it made another faint click. Then we all looked around again.

"I wonder why this place was closed up, but still maintained?" Brandon thought aloud. Then he shrugged. "Oh, well. This is where we're staying."

We investigated the doors beyond and saw that two were bedrooms with one bed each. The last one was a bathroom. Mew floated over to the pile of wood. "What are these for?"

Brandon looked at them thoughtfully, then at the ceiling. I followed his gaze to the ceiling, and saw a part with coloring that didn't match up with the rest.

"It looks like they could have been stairs," he began, "and that boarded up part of the ceiling was where they went through to the next floor. I wonder why it was boarded up?"

"Probably for the same reason the inn was closed," I said.

We all ate (except for me, of course), and then sat down to discuss the various arrangements.

"There are only two rooms, and four of us," Brandon pointed out. We all looked at each other.

"I don't need to sleep, so I'll stay outside in here," I volunteered. Brandon nodded.

"I figured that," he said. Then he transferred his gaze to Deoxys and Mew. "What about you two?"

Deoxys and Mew looked at each other and turned purple and red, respectively. "I guess… we could share a room?" Deoxys said uncertainly.

"There's only one bed," Brandon pointed out.

"I'll sleep on the floor, Mew can take the bed," Deoxys immediately offered.

"No, you take the bed," Mew insisted. "It's too big for me, anyway."

"I—"

Brandon cut off Deoxys. "Argue later, I need to get some sleep. I'll take the other room, then." With that, he rose and walked into the room on the left.

Mew and Deoxys stared after him, then at each other. They got up and went into the room in the center, then, once the door closed, I heard them begin arguing again. I decided this would be a long night.

Eventually, Deoxys and Mew must have reached an agreement, because their room became silent and the light under the door darkened. I waited, as I did every night.

After a while, though, I began to hear sounds. At first, I wasn't sure whether they were imagined or not. I heard fleeting whispers from the walls around me, and groans of pain soon joined them. I glanced around apprehensively. What was causing them?

Suddenly, the lights turned out. Shapes began moving in the room, shapes that my eye, not yet adjusted to the sudden darkness, couldn't pick out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white, wispy object flitting around, but when I turned, it was gone. The sounds increased in volume, and I was suddenly reminded of the Broken Stone Tower. Was this the same thing?

A blue, glowing object appeared at the edge of my vision and disappeared. Black things began to flutter around me, whispering words I couldn't understand. I decided it wasn't my imagination and that I should wake the others. Brandon would have taken the radio off, but Deoxys and Mew could still hear me…

I tried to broadcast a warning to them, and found, to my horror, that I could not. For some reason, my body would not obey.

I suddenly felt very tired. I sank to the floor of the inn. A black shadow approached me, flitting towards me, reaching for me. I was too tired to resist as it touched me, and I was enveloped in darkness. The whisperings became louder, joined by crying noises and shrieks of fear, then all was silent. Another blue glowing object appeared fleetingly, and then was gone.


	28. Penalties

Chapter 28 – Penalties

**Chapter 28 – Penalties**

I was on rough, hard ground. I could see nothing, but I could feel the ground and hear the waves crashing against the shore. Had that feeling and sound ever stopped? I wasn't sure.

Then my vision returned. I saw barren, hard ground, then trees. To either side was water. The sky was dark, dotted with stars, but no moon was evident. I blinked my eye in confusion. What was I doing here?

"So you're here, too," Brandon said from behind me.

I floated up and turned, to see Brandon standing there looking just as confused as me. Next to him, Mew floated and Deoxys stood.

"What's going on?" I asked, confusedly. "How did we get here?"

"I think it's a dream," Brandon said. "We're not sure whose dream it is, though, because we all know it's ours." Deoxys shrugged. Mew simply floated and stared around.

"What's a dream?" I inquired, still just as confused. Brandon sighed.

"It's a picture your brain makes up while you're asleep," he said simply.

Then, they all stared past me. I heard a sinister chuckle from behind me.

"Sometimes they're made up by your brains, yes," a voice said. I recognized it, though from where, I didn't know. "But sometimes they're _real_."

I turned slowly. Behind me was floating a strange creature.

It was mostly black, with two black arms that ended in sharp claws. It looked like it was wearing a dress, except it was part of it. Its head was black, but on top of it was a pillar of shifting, blowing white hair, and around its neck was a large, crimson… thing that looked like an open mouth, lined with teeth. I saw just one icy blue eye, on the right side of its face, though its white hair came down and covered the spot where the other one would be, so I figured it probably had two.

It laughed, though it didn't appear to have a mouth. I floated backwards to instead float next to Brandon.

"Th-that's… Darkrai!" Brandon uttered. His eyes widened. I noticed Mew staring at the creature with large and fearful eyes.

The creature Brandon called "Darkrai" floated toward us a little. "Yes, I am Darkrai. I am the bringer of nightmares, the exploiter of secret fears and phobias. You wonder who among you is having this dream? All of you have been brought here, to my domain, through my power. There is no escape unless I get what I want."

"And what is it you want?" Deoxys asked defiantly.

Darkrai laughed again, a sinister laugh. "I want Mew."

Mew squealed in fear and darted behind Deoxys. Deoxys stared at Darkrai angrily. "Why?"

Darkrai floated closer, and we all took a step backwards. "I have been commanded to punish Mew for disobeying her orders. There are _penalties_ for those who disobey." His cold blue eye glanced at the paling Mew in contempt. "Mew was told to deliver the message and return, and not to reveal anything about the one who sent her except for what she was given. Mew did not return after delivering the message, and she revealed too much." Darkrai laughed sinisterly again. "The master knows all, even more than Uxie. Did you think you could get away with it?"

Mew cowered behind Deoxys. "L-leave me alone!"

Darkrai snickered evilly. "I'm sorry, but orders are orders. Something _you_ have yet to realize, evidently. Don't worry, after a year spent in nightmares, I'm sure you'll never make the same mistake again." Mew paled further and began to cry.

Deoxys turned and hugged her. "Don't worry, I won't let him take you." Mew sniffled and nodded.

"Th-thank you," she said, staring up at him through teary eyes. She then nuzzled him, causing him to once again turn purple. Then we all turned as Darkrai spoke again.

"Ah, how _cute_. Is that why you didn't return?" He snickered evilly. "Too bad."

Then Darkrai faded and disappeared.

We all blinked. Brandon reached for his backpack with his Poke Balls, only to find that it wasn't there.

Then Darkrai rematerialized right in front of Deoxys, snatching Mew away from him. "Haha, fooled you!"

Mew screamed and began struggling wildly as Darkrai began to float away toward the trees. Deoxys's eyes flashed purple, but nothing happened. They stopped glowing, and he stared in confusion. Darkrai laughed.

"You can't hurt me while I am in control of your dream!"

Deoxys floated off the ground and launched after him. "Then I'll just have to _take_ control of it!"

Darkrai laughed. Deoxys shot black beams from his eyes at Darkrai, careful to avoid hitting Mew. Darkrai disappeared again, dropping Mew but also causing the beams to miss and strike a tree. Deoxys flew forward and caught Mew out of the air. He hugged her.

Then Darkrai's laughter came from all around us. We looked around, wondering where he would appear next. Mew said to Deoxys, "I have an idea."

After a few moments, Deoxys nodded. He let go of Mew, who floated off towards the trees slightly. Then Darkrai reappeared and grabbed at her. She dodged and began glowing white. Her shape changed, and she grew taller, her arms lengthening and splitting on one side. Her head became flatter, with two earlike protrusions. Her legs lengthened, ending in points.

The whole process took about two seconds, as Brandon and I watched in shock. Then the light faded, and standing in front of Darkrai was another of Deoxys. We stared at the original, then at the new one. They looked exactly the same.

Darkrai sniggered. "A nice trick, though it won't save you!" He lunged at the one that had been Mew.

Then things became confusing. The one that was Mew floated backwards to stand by the original, dodging Darkrai's lunge. Both Deoxys and the copy began flying around in front of Darkrai, until I lost track of which was which. Apparently, Darkrai did, too.

"You think you can fool me?"

Both nodded, and one (or maybe both) said, in Deoxys's telepathic voice, "Yes."

Darkrai sighed. "Alright, I'll give you that much. But I'll just have to find out which one is the real one, and which one is Mew." He laughed.

Both Deoxys' crystals flashed. A white beam shot from each of them, colliding with Darkrai. There was a loud explosion, and dust filled the air, obscuring our vision. Brandon coughed.

When the dust cleared, we all stared at the crater in the rocky ground. One Deoxys looked at the other. "Did we win?" it asked in Mew's voice.

Then there was a laugh as Darkrai materialized in front of the aforementioned Deoxys copy and launched a pulse of black light at it. The light struck, knocking the copy back. It glowed white and transformed back into Mew, who landed hard on the ground, dazed. Darkrai snickered.

"Ha, you're not very good at _acting_!" Darkrai waved his claws, and a hole seemed to appear in the air in front of him. "Nighty-night!" he said to Mew, before laughing and fading out of view. Mew suddenly began to slide towards the hole. She snapped out of her dazed state and spun around.

"No!" she cried, struggling to fly away from the dark hole. Deoxys rushed towards her and grabbed her arm with his right tentacle.

Deoxys tried to pull backwards, but instead he began to move toward the hole, too. He turned his other two tentacles into a hand and scrabbled along the ground for something to hold on to. Then Brandon grabbed his hand and began to pull, too. I floated towards Brandon, and he grabbed on to me, completing our makeshift chain. I willed myself to float away from the hole, but despite all our efforts, Mew continued to inch closer to it.

"We need to find a way to close it!" Deoxys said.

"That's obvious," I pointed out. "Where's Darkrai?"

We all looked around. Suddenly Brandon whispered, "There's something white in the woods over there." Deoxys nodded and found the thing Brandon was looking at.

I looked, too, and saw a white, flickering something between two trees. Deoxys's chest crystal glowed.

I saw, as if I were up close, one icy blue eye widen as the white hot beam seared toward it. There was a loud explosion, though not as loud as before. When the smoke cleared, I saw that several trees had been blasted apart, but there was no sign of Darkrai.

Unfortunately, the hole that was drawing us steadily closer was still there.

Mew then looked at Deoxys, and I saw, from my place at the end of the chain, a tear fall from her eye. "I'm sorry," she said softly, then let go.

Deoxys's eyes widened as Mew was sucked into the black hole in the air. "_No_!" he cried, letting go of a shocked Brandon and lunging toward it. It closed before he touched it.

Eerie laughter sounded all around us, and then I felt nothing, and saw nothing.


	29. Nightmare

Chapter 29 – Nightmare

**Chapter 29 – Nightmare**

Mew floated in darkness. There was nothing, no one. She didn't know where she was, nor did she care.

Then one glowing blue eye appeared and gazed at her. It disappeared, and laughter echoed all around her. Mew shivered.

A low moaning noise came from behind her. She spun around fearfully, but there was nothing there.

Whisperings came from all sides. Mew looked around with wide eyes, breathing heavily. Skittering noises came as invisible _somethings_ closed in.

Mew closed her eyes. It made no difference, since it was all dark anyways, and she could hear still. The noises came nearer.

"Go away!" she shouted in fear. Sinister laughter joined the whispering for a moment, then faded away. Mew covered her ears, but the noises grew louder still.

Then something touched her. She screamed.

Suddenly, from out of the darkness, a figure appeared. Mew felt relief as she saw that it was Deoxys.

"Deoxys!"

Deoxys came nearer, and reached out his hand to her. Mew reached back and grabbed it.

Then Deoxys's eyes turned from white to red. He pulled his hand away. "I don't need you," he said. "Goodbye." Mew stared in shock as he turned and walked away.

"No! Don't leave me!" She flew after him, but found that she could get no closer. Deoxys faded into the blackness.

"Why…?" Mew began sobbing. Dark, echoing laughter surrounded her.

Then something began to crawl across her. She screamed and tried to shake it off, but no matter where she looked, it wasn't there. More invisible things began to crawl across her, until she felt that she was covered, but still Mew couldn't see them.

Figures began to appear out of the darkness; black, cloaked figures. They surrounded Mew. The crawling feelings began to fade, and instead Mew looked fearfully at the figures that surrounded her.

The circle began to close in. They reached out their hands, pale and devoid of life. They whispered wicked things. Mew cowered in fear and closed her eyes.

"Don't worry, you're safe now," a reassuring voice said to her. She opened her eyes… and screamed.

A huge monster with a large and toothy mouth grinned at her. Slobber fell from its jaw, then it said in the same voice, "I'll protect you… inside my mouth." It opened its mouth and swallowed her. Mew screamed again and shut her eyes.

Then, from behind her eyelids, Mew sensed a bright light. "I've got you now, don't be afraid," a feminine voice said. Mew shook her head without opening her eyes.

"No, that won't work on me again."

The light grew stronger. "There's no need to be afraid anymore. I'm not asking you to open your eyes. Just relax."

Mew opened one eye, then breathed a sigh of relief and opened the other. "Cresselia!"

The purple, blue, and yellow Pokemon nodded. "Mew."

"Why did you…?"

Cresselia looked at Mew with piercing purple eyes. "You have some business to take care of. And besides, no one deserves what Darkrai had in store for you."

Mew shivered as she remembered her nightmare. "Thank you."

Cresselia began to fade. "You're welcome…"

.

Mew twitched slightly and opened her eyes. We all stared in surprise.

She looked up at Deoxys. "Deoxys…" she murmured.

Deoxys hugged her. "You woke up!"

Mew nodded tiredly. "It was Cresselia…"

Brandon looked thoughtful. "Cresselia can cure nightmares."

Mew looked at him with clouded eyes, then back at Deoxys. "Thank you…" she said quietly, before her eyes closed again. Deoxys looked startled.

"No! Don't go back to sleep," he cried in concern. Brandon shook his head.

"I think she's fine now. She's breathing normally again, see?"

Deoxys calmed down. "Alright, then." He placed her back on the bed. We left her to sleep in peace, and Deoxys closed the door after us.

Brandon glanced at him. "So she took the bed and you took the floor after all?"

Deoxys stared for a moment, then realized what he was talking about and turned slightly purple. "Yes…"

Brandon nodded. "Okay then."

A few minutes later, Deoxys opened the door again slightly. He gazed at Mew's sleeping figure in the middle of the bed. "Sleep well," he said quietly, then shut the door.


	30. Manaphy

Chapter 30 – Manaphy

**Chapter 30 – Manaphy**

Mew was recovered enough to travel by midday, at least in body. She refused to tell even Deoxys what had happened to her, and I knew that the memory would haunt her forever.

As soon as Mew said she felt like leaving, Brandon turned the key back in to Eldritch, telling him nothing of what had transpired, though I could tell that Eldritch was curious. Then we met back up with Mew and Deoxys by the gatehouse that led to the east.

We passed through the gate, earning a few stares, but no one said anything. Once we exited, we stood before a grassy path with forests of trees to either side, a few trees on the path itself, and beyond that, water. No other humans were in sight.

We approached the river and stood or floated before it. There were no bridges across it. Brandon shrugged. "Any ideas?"

I looked around thoughtfully. "Can you go through the water?"

Brandon took a stick and tossed it in the river. It was rapidly carried out of sight. "No, the current's too strong."

Deoxys studied Brandon. "I could carry you over there, maybe…" Brandon looked thoughtful. Then I had an idea.

"That stick floated," I began, "so what about a tree?"

Brandon looked around at the various trees. "They could, but it could be difficult to cut them down without the right tools…"

Deoxys's eyes glowed purple. "I can help with that." A nearby tree was surrounded by a purple aura. It began to shake as we all watched. After a moment, Deoxys began to look strained.

Then Mew's eyes glowed purple, too, and the tree crashed to the ground. The purple lights faded, and Deoxys slumped slightly.

"Are you all right?" Mew asked him. He nodded.

"It just wore me out a little."

Brandon thanked them and went over to study the tree trunk.

Soon, with the help of Brandon's Pokemon, the tree was carved out slightly to help keep us from falling off. It was big enough to hold us all, so with some difficulty, we got it into the river and climbed in. Or floated in, in my and Mew's case.

We also used some of the wood left over from the carving as makeshift paddles. They were crude, but they worked.

Once we got to the middle of the river, having floated downstream a little, I noticed that the water looked closer than before. I mentioned this to Brandon.

"What?" He looked over the side, and his eyes widened. "There must be a leak!"

We all looked for the leak, but didn't find it, as our makeshift boat began to fill with water. It sank lower.

"Heehee, don't worry, we found it!"

A strange blue creature popped its head above the water. Two blue antennae extended from the top of its head, ending in spheres. Yellow rings surrounded its blue eyes, and other yellow patterns covered its face. It had a mouth, but no visible nose. It smiled at us and waved a stubby blue arm with no fingers.

"We found the leak, we're plugging it, okay?" It disappeared back under the water, leaving us staring after it, astonished. After a moment, several other blue creatures appeared. These had a bulb on top of their heads and only one antenna, and instead of yellow there were dark blue circles around their eyes. The patterns on their faces were the same dark blue, but they didn't have as many.

"It's plugged," one of them announced.

"You hit a rock," another told us. They all laughed and submerged again.

"This is… interesting," Deoxys noted.

"But fortunate," I added. Our boat stopped sinking as fast, but it was still sinking.

Then the first blue creature, the one with the yellow markings, popped up again. "What are you doing?" it asked rhetorically. "Bail!"

I looked at Brandon in confusion, who began to cup water in his hands and throw it out of the boat. Deoxys's eyes glowed purple, and some water jumped out the side of the boat. Mew followed this example. Brandon soon gave up and watched them. Once our boat was free of most of the water, we looked over the side again.

After a moment, another one of the second blue creatures emerged slightly from the water. "Do you plan on reaching the other side?" it asked us. We looked at each other, and Brandon nodded. "Then paddle!" it said, laughing.

Brandon and Deoxys grabbed their paddles again and paddled. I couldn't paddle, because I had no arms, and Mew couldn't either, because they were too big for her. So we watched as we approached the opposite shore.

Once our boat hit it, we jumped (or floated) ashore. We turned and watched as our tree and makeshift paddles began to float away down the river. Then the blue and yellow creature popped up again.

"Hi!" it said happily. "You made it! Good job, though you really oughta stay away from water from now on, 'cause you all know nothing about boats. So yeah, see you!" With that word of friendly advice, it slid back under.

"Wait!" Brandon called out. It rose back up out of the water slightly, and so did about five of the other creatures.

"Yes?" it asked.

"What are you?" Brandon asked it.

It frowned, then smiled again. "Oh, I forgot. I'm Manaphy, these are my children."

We thanked Manaphy and his children for helping us, then, once they submerged again with many farewells, continued on our way and soon entered Jubilife City.


	31. Jubilife

Chapter 31 – Jubilife

**Chapter 31 – Jubilife**

Jubilife City was big. That was my first impression. It was the largest human settlement I had seen so far, bigger than Veilstone City, Hearthome City, or Pastoria City.

Buildings reached far above us, and there were many of them. But it didn't feel oppressive, the city was bright and shiny, and there were humans everywhere.

This, of course, posed a small problem. We, especially Deoxys and Mew, got lots of stares from the various residents. But there was no sign of Team Galactic, luckily. And mostly, the other humans stayed out of our way.

The daytime was almost over, so we looked for a hotel to stay at, hoping we would have better luck than here than we did in Canalave. Mew and Deoxys decided to stay in a small alleyway while Brandon and I asked around (well, strictly Brandon did the asking, and I was just around) to avoid scaring more people.

Brandon and I soon discovered multiple choices of hotels, and once we returned to Deoxys and Mew, we picked one. Brandon and I went to the hotel, and he reserved two rooms. The human at the desk gave him a strange look but accepted anyway. Then we went to get Deoxys and Mew.

We all decided that Deoxys would cause too much of a panic if he just walked in, so we decided to go to the hotel when it was dark and there was no one around. We waited until the sun went down, then, once we confirmed that there was no one there, we entered the hotel and went to our rooms, which were next to each other.

Brandon went in one room, and Deoxys and Mew entered the other. I stayed in the hall and watched, and listened.

.

"I'm afraid," Mew said quietly from the bed. Deoxys looked up from the floor.

"Why?" he asked.

Mew went further under the covers. "Because I might have another nightmare…" She broke off.

Deoxys got up and went over to sit on the foot of the bed. "What did you dream about?"

Mew looked out of the blankets at him. "There were lots of… crawly things, and monsters, and voices…" She trailed off and began sobbing. Deoxys looked at her in concern and moved closer.

"What is it?"

Mew looked up at him with wide eyes. "I saw you… and you reached out to me…" She began sobbing again.

"And?" Deoxys prompted gently.

"And then… you said you didn't need me… and you turned and left me." Mew began crying.

Deoxys reached down and hugged her. "Don't worry, I won't really do that." Mew stopped crying and sniffled.

"I'm sorry… I was acting like a little kid," she apologized. Deoxys shook his head.

"I don't really know what you saw last night, so I can't blame you."

Mew hugged him back and kissed him. He turned purple. "Thanks, Deoxys."

.

Two red and green eyes stared down first at the black, red and white phantom, then at the purple, yellow and blue swan. A deep, rumbling voice spoke.

"What do you have to say, Darkrai?"

Darkrai swallowed nervously and bowed. "I was administering the punishment, as you requested, sir, when _she_," he said, glaring at Cresselia, "rescued the rogue."

Cresselia glared at Darkrai. "You—"

"Silence! I have not commanded you to speak yet." Cresselia bowed and gulped, backing away. The voice then went on. "Is there anything else you wish to report, Darkrai?"

Darkrai bowed again, trembling slightly. "There were three others, but since you commanded me to only take the rogue, I left them alone, sir."

The red and green eyes remained motionless. "You did well in this, for I have need of them." Darkrai looked relieved. "However," the voice went on, causing Darkrai to stiffen again, "I may have had need of Mew's services within the next year. Did you consider that, Darkrai, when you condemned her to a year in nightmares?"

Darkrai glanced at Cresselia nervously, and finding no pity there, backed away slightly, shaking nervously. He gulped. "Well, not really…" Then he cringed, expecting to be punished.

"You have a lack of foresight," the voice said. "You must learn to think before you act."

Darkrai relaxed, relieved, when the eyes turned to look at Cresselia. "And why did you think it necessary to interfere without contacting me first?" Cresselia bowed and gulped nervously.

"Well, that would take too long, and I didn't want to leave her to him for that long."

The eyes flashed, and Cresselia cringed. "Mew has disobeyed my orders! She deserves every punishment she gets, unless _I_ say otherwise!" Cresselia shook with fear and looked down. Darkrai watched, snickering to himself. Then the eyes turned back to him and he stiffened and bowed.

"Don't think I've forgotten you, either. Giratina!"

A shadow appeared behind Darkrai and Cresselia, who both continued staring straight ahead and didn't even risk turning to look. Two red, glowing eyes stared from the shadow.

"I am here, master. What is your will?" a low, sepulchral voice asked, not without some apprehension.

The two red and green eyes glanced at Darkrai and Cresselia, who flinched, and then at the shadow. "Take these two with you and do with them what you would do to someone who," the voice said, eyes flashing, "_disobeys_."

Cresselia's eyes widened in fear, and Darkrai lost all reason. "No!" he sobbed, collapsing. "I am faithful! I haven't done anything—"

Then blackness surrounded him, and he disappeared. Cresselia trembled visibly and sank downwards, eyes wide with shock. Then a dark cloud enveloped her, too.

The large shadow bowed. "As you wish, master…" It vanished.

The red and green eyes disappeared. Then the deep, rumbling voice spoke again.

"Soon, I will be rid of my chains."


	32. Celebi

Chapter 32 – Celebi

**Chapter 32 – Celebi**

Dawn came quickly. After taking care of the usual morning things, we left and headed south towards Sandgem Town. We soon exited Jubilife City without encountering any other humans and found ourselves on a grassy route with scattered trees and forests surrounding it.

We traveled south for a few minutes, when suddenly a high and squeaky telepathic voice cried out, "Mew!"

We turned towards the source of the voice in surprise, and from behind a tree flew a small green creature.

This creature had large blue eyes with black rings around them, and two antennae with blue tips. It had short green hair that curved back into a point, and two small, transparent wings adorned its back. In addition, the creature had two short legs and two arms that were longer than its legs. From top to bottom, it was about two feet tall.

Mew's eyes widened in recognition. "Celebi!"

The green creature, apparently Celebi, flew to a stop in front of us and then hovered with it wings. "What are you doing here, Mew?"

Mew stared. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Celebi shrugged. "I'm here to deliver a message. Like you. You know that. But you already delivered your message, so what are you doing here?"

Mew looked slightly annoyed. "Why can't I do whatever I want? It's none of your business."

Celebi looked at her. "He's very angry, you know."

Mew blanched. "He is?"

Celebi nodded. "Do you know what he did to Cresselia?"

"No, what happened? Is she alright?"

Celebi shook her head. "She's being punished by Giratina right now for helping you. You should be grateful. And you should go back to the master, so he doesn't get angrier."

"No, I can't go back now," Mew said sadly. "If you see Cresselia, tell her I'm sorry I got her into trouble. But I can't go back."

Celebi thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right, I'll tell her. And I understand how you feel. But you know you can't avoid it, better to get it all over with now."

Mew shivered slightly. "I know, but I'm afraid of what would happen."

Celebi sighed and crossed her arms. "Then why did you disobey in the first place? You _knew_ what would happen."

Mew hesitated. "Ask Mesprit."

Celebi stared, then shrugged. "I won't even try to interpret that answer. Anyway, I have a message."

Brandon looked at Deoxys, who simply shrugged. Then Celebi took a breath and spoke again.

"When three are one, one will come, and from one will be none. And when all are one, none will be all, and one will be one."

We all stared, even Mew. Celebi began to giggle. "Confused yet?"

Mew shook her head ruefully. "I never understood the parts I was told, either…"

Celebi stopped giggling and shrugged. "Well, that all we're for, to take messages, not understand them. Although, I do have some other things to do pretty soon…"

"You're leaving now?" Mew asked.

"Well, I don't want to make the master angry," Celebi told her pointedly.

"Oh… well, goodbye."

"See you later, Mew. Hopefully."

Celebi turned and flew away into the trees. After she was out of sight, we all turned to Mew.

"How do you know Celebi?" I asked. Mew stared at us all.

"Celebi is my friend. Do you think I didn't ever meet anyone else?"

"I guess not," I conceded.

"Who is this 'master'?" Brandon demanded.

"I thought I told you I couldn't tell you without getting into even _more_ trouble!" Mew snapped. Brandon backed away.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, for bringing up such a sore subject.

"It's fine," Mew said. "Let's keep going."

With that, we continued south, and soon entered Sandgem Town.


	33. Mesprit

Chapter 33 – Mesprit

**Chapter 33 – Mesprit**

"Sir, I delivered the message."

Two red and green glowing eyes appeared. They looked down at the small green fairy hovering before them, somewhat nervously.

"That is good."

Celebi bowed and then, before she even thought about it, her mouth opened. "Sir, Mew was there." She immediately clapped her hands to her mouth, but the damage was done.

The eyes stared at her impassively. "And?"

Celebi swallowed apprehensively and continued talking. "She said that she didn't want to return yet, because she was afraid."

The eyes bored into Celebi and made her fidget uncomfortably. "Why did she disobey, then?"

Celebi bowed again and gulped, remembering what had happened to Cresselia and Darkrai. "I asked her, and she said to ask… Mesprit."

The eyes flashed. Celebi winced. "I understand," the voice said. "Is there anything else that you wish to tell me?"

Celebi hesitated. "Well," she started, fidgeting nervously, "she gave me a message… for Cresselia."

The green and red eyes continued to stare at her. "Go on."

Celebi gulped. "She said… to tell Cresselia that she was sorry she got her into trouble."

Half a second passed. Then the voice thundered, "How did she find out about what happened to Cresselia?!"

Celebi winced and backed up, seeing her life flash before her eyes. "Um… I told her…"

"You told Mew?! That is a private matter, and you had no right to mention it."

Celebi swallowed. "Sorry…"

The eyes flashed. "Giratina, come here."

Celebi paled. A large shadow appeared next to her. She glanced up at the glowing red eyes in its midst hopefully, but there was no pity evident.

"Giratina, how are Cresselia and Darkrai?"

The shadow answered in a low, somber voice. "They are imprisoned with the spirits of the dead… They cower in fear when the spirits draw close."

Celebi began to tremble fearfully. She had a sudden urge to cry.

The green and red eyes glanced at her, and then at the shadow. "Giratina, take Mew's message to Cresselia." The shadow bowed and disappeared.

Celebi stopped shaking and looked around in confusion. The glowing eyes regarded her. "You have done your task, and I will let you go this time. Next time, you will know better."

Celebi bowed in relief. "Thank you, sir, thank you. I'll do better next time." Then she flew away as fast as she could. The eyes watched after her.

"Ask Mesprit…"

The red and green eyes disappeared.

.

It was still morning when we arrived in Sandgem Town, so we decided to pass through. We saw no humans, since it was a small settlement. Soon, we were traveling west along a path full of vegetation.

We traveled in silence, for the most part, contemplating Celebi's message, but not understanding it. After about half an hour, the path branched. One branch turned south, while the other continued west.

"Which way?" Deoxys asked, surveying the two possible paths.

"That way leads to Twinleaf Town," Brandon said, pointing to the branch that led south. "We need to keep going. It's only a few minutes from here."

Deoxys nodded, and we all continued west.

Soon, the path ended in a forest. Brandon pointed to a smaller path that led into the woods. "That way. I used to come here all the time before I left with my Pokemon."

We traveled up the path and through the forest. I reflected on how we had gained a member for our party between the visits to each lake, and I also wondered about other things as I floated towards Lake Verity next to Brandon, Deoxys, and Mew.

Then we emerged into the light and saw the lake. It was a huge expanse of water, and though it looked no different than the other two lakes, it still impressed me.

Then I saw a small pink and light-blue form lying still at the edge of the lake.

Brandon gasped, and Mew cried out, "Mesprit!"

The creature looked up at us, as Mew flew toward it. It looked dazed for a moment, then it shook its head and cried out in telepathy, "No! Go back!"

Then a heavy net weighted with metal dropped on Mew, startling us, and the next second, one covered Brandon, Deoxys and me.


	34. Rayquaza

Chapter 34 – Rayquaza

**Chapter 34 – Rayquaza**

Mew fell to the ground, wrapped in the net, and I did likewise, along with Brandon and Deoxys, who stumbled with the sudden weight of the net. Deoxys's eyes glowed, and the nets split apart.

Then Deoxys was blasted by a beam of light that came from the trees to our right. He fell backwards to the ground, unconscious.

The rest of us struggled out of the nets. "Deoxys!" Mew cried. Then she was hit by another beam of light and also fell to the ground unconscious. Brandon and I turned towards the source of the beams in confusion, and Brandon produced a Poke Ball from his backpack.

A human wearing a Team Galactic uniform stepped from the trees, holding a large, long object. She had red hair with parts sticking out slightly at the top and sides, and strangely, her uniform, though the same color as those of the other Galactics, included a dress. She laughed.

"This is too easy. I mean, when Cyrus said that the ones who had infiltrated our HQ and defeated Jupiter were coming here, I was expecting more of a challenge."

Brandon glared and moved to release his Pokemon, but he stopped when the Galactic aimed the metal tube at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The only reason I haven't knocked you out, too, is because I really don't know what it would do to a human. I could risk it, though, if you really want me too." She smiled.

Then Mesprit said, "Go away, you're not wanted here." She started to rise up from the ground. The Galactic looked between Mesprit and Brandon, then made a motion. Suddenly another Galactic jumped at Brandon from behind, and the first one aimed at Mesprit and fired. Mesprit dodged. I quickly floated upwards to avoid being grabbed by any more Galactics.

Another Galactic joined the second, and together they pushed Brandon to the ground and held him there, taking his Poke Ball, putting it in his backpack, and then taking the backpack.

I quickly looked around. What could I do?

The first Galactic fired at Mesprit again, and Mesprit barely dodged. Then, Mesprit's eyes glowed, and the tube the Galactic was holding fell apart. The red-haired Galactic stared at it and blinked.

Mesprit was hit by a beam fired by a fourth Galactic, who had gone unnoticed until now. She immediately fell out of the air, knocked out.

Then, I realized what I needed to do. A Galactic was holding Brandon's backpack, and it was partially left unzipped. Unfortunately, as I floated towards it, that was when all of the Galactics turned to me, since I was now the only threat in the area.

One of them grabbed at me, and I floated out of his reach. Then another grabbed part of the net that had held Mew and threw it at me. I was unable to move in time, and I was knocked to the ground. Before I could start to work my way out of the net, I was grabbed by several Galactics.

I was carried back to where Brandon was being held down. From there, I saw the first Galactic approach Mesprit.

She flipped over one of Mesprit's tails. I saw a red gem sparkle, and then it was removed by the Galactic. Mesprit flinched unconsciously, and the Galactic stepped back for a moment, apparently afraid that Mesprit might be waking up. It was then that the Galactic caught sight of something shiny on Mesprit's _other_ tail.

"Jupiter and Saturn only reported _one_ gem, each," she said to herself. "This is an interesting development." Then she reached down, removing Mesprit's other gem.

Once she did this, she turned to the other Galactics. "There were two of these gems on Mesprit," she started, "so it stands to reason that there might have been two on each of the others, as well."

The Galactics all looked at each other and shrugged. The red-haired Galactic continued. "If so, we're missing two. So where are they?"

One Galactic stepped forward. "Uxie and Azelf may still have them, if that is the case, Mars."

The red-haired Galactic, who I now supposed was called Mars, shook her head. "No, I don't think so. This boy was seen at both of the lakes after us, and now he comes to this one. I wonder why?" She laughed. "Search his pack."

Brandon began to struggle as the other Galactics opened his backpack and searched around inside it. Unfortunately, he didn't break free, and even more unfortunately, the Galactics soon produced our two red gems. They gave them to Mars, then closed Brandon's backpack.

Mars admired the gems in her hand, then laughed again. "Saturn and Jupiter each brought back only one gem, while we will bring back four. I think we'll all be getting promoted soon." All the Galactics smiled.

Then, the huge green creature that had been watching from the sky for the past five minutes dropped into the clearing.

All the Galactics stared at it. I stared at it, too.

It had a very long, thin and flexible body, and its head was pointed and triangular. Two horns topped its head, and two more were positioned below its mouth. Its eyes were black and yellow. A short distance down its body from its head were two arms with a three fingered claw on each. They were small compared to the rest of it, but that still made them almost as long as Brandon was tall. Yellow and red markings, along with fin-like protuberances, adorned its long body, and at the opposite side from its head, its body ended with two more fins and a point. Parts of it were trailing in the lake, because it was so huge that it couldn't fit on the land inside the clearing completely.

After a few moments, one Galactic raised a metal tube and pointed it at the creature. The huge green creature shot the end of its tail forward, hitting the tube and snapping it in half. The Galactic who was holding it dropped it, and all the Galactics stared at it in shock.

Then the creature opened its mouth and made a loud noise that was halfway between a screech and a roar. The Galactics fled, and it closed its mouth.

Brandon slowly got up and backed away from the creature. It glanced at him, then moved the end of its tail to Mew and poked her. Brandon blinked.

Mew shifted, but didn't wake up. The creature then tapped Deoxys with its tail, who immediately woke.

His eyes opened, and upon seeing the large green creature looming over him, shot upwards, chest crystal flashing instinctively. A white beam shot from it and collided with the creature, knocking it onto the lake with a screech and a gigantic splash. Mew was splashed with water and woke confusedly.

"Huh? What's going on?" she asked, looking around.

"There's a large green creature in the lake," I told her. She turned to the lake, and Deoxys floated back to the ground. We all watched the lake.

With a splash and a roar, the creature's head emerged from the lake and stared at us. Its mouth was open, and something was glowing inside. Deoxys tensed.

Mew reacted differently than we expected. "Rayquaza! Stop!"

The creature turned to her, and the lights faded. It closed its mouth and stared. The rest of us stared at her, too, before Brandon suddenly said, "Rayquaza! I remember now. It's the guardian of the sky." Then he looked at the green creature, which turned to him. "This is Rayquaza?"

Mew giggled. "Yes."

Deoxys relaxed slightly. "Is it friendly?"

"Usually, unless you get him mad."

Rayquaza opened his mouth and made a series of noises. Then, once he closed his mouth, Mew said, "He said he came here to help us, because he senses something wrong."

Brandon asked, "What's wrong?"

Mew shook her head. "He doesn't know. But since he lives up in the air, he's very perceptive to things that happen down here." Then Rayquaza made more noises. Mew translated again.

"He says that whatever it is, it's at the mountain in the middle of this region, so he wants to take us there."

A short while later, after Deoxys had apologized to him, Rayquaza took off, with all of us clinging on to him. He held Mesprit in his right claw, since she hadn't yet awoken.

We asked Rayquaza to fly around the area a bit, to see if we could find the Galactics, who had taken all of the gems, but there was no sign of them. So, instead we set off toward the original destination Rayquaza had in mind.

Rayquaza told us (through Mew) that we would get there at midnight. So we held on, and Rayquaza tried not to fly too fast.


	35. Spear Pillar

Chapter 35 – Spear Pillar

**Chapter 35 – Spear Pillar**

A large shadow materialized, red eyes shining from its depths. It bowed. "I have brought them, master."

Two red and green eyes appeared and glowed as they fixed on the shadow. "Good," said a voice that rumbled. The shadow bowed again, then two spheres of darkness formed in front of it.

The spheres dissipated, leaving two different forms to fall limply to the ground. Darkrai groaned and opened his eyes, then quickly shook his head to clear it and floated upwards, bowing.

Cresselia's eyes opened slowly, then, seeing where she was, she became alert immediately and floated up next to Darkrai. She bowed her head.

The red and green eyes watched them unemotionally. "What do you have to say now?"

Darkrai gulped and bowed repeatedly. "I'll do whatever you say, sir. Just don't make me go back there. Please." The last word was almost a sob.

Cresselia then raised her head and trembled nervously as she felt the weight of the gaze transferred to her. "I won't disobey you again, sir. I'm sorry." She averted her eyes when they began to fill with tears as she recalled the past day.

The glowing eyes then raised to the shadow. "You may go now." The large shadow bowed and disappeared.

Cresselia and Darkrai both remained silent, staring at the ground and fidgeting nervously. The eyes turned back to them. "I believe that you will both think more in the future. You may go now."

They both became numb with relief. Darkrai bowed. "Thank you, sir." Then he floated away quickly. Cresselia replicated the motions.

Once they were gone, the two red and green eyes continued to stare forward. Then the deep voice spoke again. "Giratina."

The shadow reappeared. "What is your will, master?" it asked in its melancholy tones, though there was a hint of fear in its voice. The eyes gazed at it impassively.

"I have a special task for you…"

.

Night came soon. None of us talked or slept, aside from Mesprit, who still hadn't woken up. Instead, we concentrated our energies to hanging onto Rayquaza. Speaking of which, since I had nothing to hang on with, I was being held onto by Rayquaza's left claw. It wasn't exactly pleasant.

After a few hours, a tall mountain of rock appeared in the gloom. It was Mount Coronet, we all knew. And something was wrong there, something big enough that even Rayquaza, who lived high above this world, could sense it.

Soon, lights came into view on the top of the mountain. We all wondered what they were, but no one asked because everyone knew that no one knew. So instead, we watched as the mountain came closer.

.

Celebi bowed nervously, feeling the weight of the gaze boring into her. "You summoned me, sir?"

The red and green eyes regarded her. "Yes. I have a few tasks for you. Find Latios, Latias, Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Cresselia, Darkrai, Uxie, and Azelf. Tell them to go to the Spear Pillar as quickly as possible." As this was said, a small green winged figure appeared behind Celebi for a moment, then disappeared, unnoticed.

Celebi memorized the names quickly, and then wondered why Uxie and Azelf were named, but not Mesprit. She didn't dare ask, though. Instead she bowed again and swallowed. "Is that all?"

The green and red eyes glowed as they watched her dispassionately. "After you deliver the message to each of them, join them at the Spear Pillar." Celebi nodded nervously.

"No go about your task," the voice commanded, and the eyes disappeared. Celebi relaxed and began to fly away.

Then Celebi tried to recall the names of the recipients, and found, to her horror, that she couldn't remember them all. She began panicking and frantically searching her mind, until she thought of a solution.

Celebi glowed and disappeared into the past, then a moment later reappeared and set about her task.

.

Around midnight, as Rayquaza had said, we arrived at Mount Coronet. The top of the mountain was lit up with lights, though we couldn't identify them from this far off. We circled the mountain a few times, and then Rayquaza prepared to land on the peak of Mount Coronet, the place Brandon called "Spear Pillar".


	36. Cyrus

Chapter 36 – Cyrus

**Chapter 36 – Cyrus**

As we neared the Spear Pillar, which strangely had no snow, though some lower regions of the mountain did, I noticed that there were lots of humans down there, and there were also various large machines.

In any case, all the humans scattered when they saw us. Rayquaza landed as lightly as he could with five passengers to avoid smashing, and then let go of me and Mesprit. Mesprit fell to the ground limply.

Then, I got my first look around the Spear Pillar. It was a small area compared to the rest of the mountain, with various columns of stone rising up from it. Some of the columns were broken or knocked over. The floor was made of stones that appeared to be placed there deliberately. Carved patterns covered everything. Some small machines were scattered around, but at the far end of the tiled platform, three large, spherical machines stood above the rest.

When I turned to look at the humans who were scattered around in confusion, I saw, to my slight surprise, that they all wore Team Galactic uniforms.

Brandon and Deoxys jumped off Rayquaza, and Mew floated down to join them. I went over to hover by Brandon's shoulder. The Galactics stared at us. Rayquaza lifted up from where he had landed and coiled up his body to loom, impressively, over us.

Some of the Galactics took out Poke Balls. Brandon took out his and faced them defiantly, as Deoxys, Mew, and I prepared to do battle.

Then a voice called from a small opening in the mountain below the tiled part. "What is going on here?"

A human emerged and looked at us. He was wearing a mostly gray jacket, and the rest of his clothes were black. His hair was blue and spiky, and his skin was paler than that of any other human I had seen so far. His eyes were black and white, like Deoxys's, only while the outside of Deoxys's eyes was black and the middle was white, this human's eyes had the opposite color scheme. His face was impassive as he studied us, and then Rayquaza.

He approached us slowly, and the crowd of Galactics parted for him. When he was a few feet away, he looked at Brandon and asked in a monotone, "Why are you here?"

Brandon blinked. "To keep you from using the red chain links for whatever your plan is."

The human continued to look at him distantly. "I am Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic." We all blinked in surprise, but he took no notice. "I know that you are the one who has attempted to interfere with our plans at each of the three lakes of Sinnoh. But why are you attempting to stop us?"

Brandon looked surprise. "Because you have hurt innocent Pokemon and humans. If you do it on a small scale, I know you'll do it on a larger scale with whatever you're planning for the gems."

Cyrus nodded. "I see. But you misunderstand our goals. We seek to create a better world, where everyone agrees and where there is everlasting peace. This is why I created Team Galactic. It is necessary that there is some hurt along the way to any goal. It is the way things work in this world. A fact that I intend to correct."

Cyrus suddenly reached into his pocket and took out several shiny objects. He showed them to us. Brandon gasped and we all stared at them. They were the six links of the red chain.

"These jewels are the keys to the ideal future. A future where Team Galactic will rule and make decisions that are fair for all. A future where I will reign supreme."

Then Brandon released all of his Pokemon from their Poke Balls. "I can't let you do that. You only care about yourself. You won't care about anyone else if you get what you want. You'll only cause more suffering!"

Cyrus's expression didn't change. "Would you like to try to stop me?"

Brandon shook his head. "No, I will stop you!"

Cyrus reached with his other hand into another pocket and took out a Poke Ball. He released a Pokemon from it that looked like a mostly black bird with what appeared to be a hat. It had a white chest.

"Honchkrow, put these in the machine." Cyrus gave the red gems to his Pokemon, which grabbed them in its talons. The Pokemon he called Honchkrow flapped its wings and flew into the air.

"Stop Honchkrow!" Brandon told his Pokemon.

Before anyone could move, though, Rayquaza's tail smashed into Honchkrow, causing it to fall to the stone floor and scattering the gems.

"Get the links," Cyrus calmly told the assorted Galactics, who immediately rushed to be the first to pick up the gems. Brandon picked up one that had landed near him, and I saw Deoxys pick up another. Mew flew to grab a third, but a Galactic got to it first.

The Galactics began releasing their Pokemon, mostly Glameow and Murkrow. Cyrus stood passively in the middle of the activity.

I floated out of reach, since I couldn't help. I saw Mew transform to look like a Galactic and rush into their midst, then I lost sight of her. Deoxys and Brandon's Pokemon were defending the two links we had. Rayquaza opened his mouth, and I saw something begin to glow inside of it.

Then, a shadow fell across us all. Everyone froze and looked up, but saw only the night sky. The shadow began moving back to occupy the only empty space in the Spear Pillar, the area between the three spherical machines. Then, as everyone stared at it, it began to come out of the ground.


	37. Giratina

Chapter 37 – Giratina

**Chapter 37 – Giratina**

The shadow rose from the stone floor to form a flickering, black form in the air. It towered over us all except Rayquaza. Then, two glowing red eyes appeared near the top.

They gazed down at us impassively, reminding me eerily of Cyrus. Then the rest of the shadow began to slowly take form.

First, the shape became definable. The shifting shadow began to form into a creature with six thick legs and a lower body that extended back. Above that was a tall, thick upper body and a head with a beak. From this head stared the two glowing eyes. Then from the back of its upper body unfurled two ragged, still strangely formless wings, with spikes in them.

Then the darkness that covered it faded slowly to reveal that it was gray with red and black striped across the width of its body. It was covered with golden ornaments.

It looked out across us. Then it spoke, in a quiet, eerie, melancholy voice. "Where is the chain?"

Brandon stared up at it. "That's… Giratina!"

The Galactics moved away and looked up at it in fear. Deoxys, Brandon, and I also moved away slightly, not sure whether this "Giratina" was a bigger threat than the Galactics.

Only one Galactic didn't move, and that was Cyrus. He looked up at Giratina with the same impassive face. "Voice key, Cyrus. Order 487."

Brandon stared in confusion. Deoxys and I did, too.

Then one of the giant metal spheres opened up and lights flashed inside of it. Electricity poured from it and around Giratina. I thought I saw Giratina's red eyes widen momentarily as it was lifted off the stone floor and sucked inside of the sphere, which closed after it. The entire process took about three seconds.

Cyrus turned to his shocked audience. "Now, I have all three of the Legendary Cosmo Pokemon. The dragon that rules time. The dragon that rules space. And now, the dragon that rules death."

We stared, shocked. Cyrus took out a Poke Ball.

"Give me the red gems."

Then Mesprit woke up. She quickly took stock of her surroundings, and then fixed a glare on Cyrus, who stared at her unemotionally. Mesprit rose into the air.

"I remember you! You're the one who tried to catch me all those years ago. You didn't play fair, either, using all your little gadgets."

The Galactic Leader's face didn't even flicker. "That is true."

Mesprit continued to glare at him as we all looked on incredulously, even the Galactics. "You accidentally touched me, and lost all of your emotions. That's why you act like this now."

"That is also true."

Mesprit's eyes flashed with anger. "Want to try again, but _fairly_ this time?"

Cyrus released a Pokemon from his Poke Ball. It was the same Honchkrow from before. I realized that he must have recalled it at some point. "Honchkrow, use Nasty Plot."

Honchkrow's eyes glowed black, and a dark aura surrounded it for a moment, then was gone. Mesprit's eyes then became black as well, and the black aura surrounded it and disappeared, like Honchkrow's.

"Night Slash, Honchkrow."

Honchkrow flew at Mesprit, and its wings began to be covered with a black haze. Mesprit's eyes glowed purple, but nothing happened, and Mesprit had just enough time to look confused before Honchkrow's sharp wing feathers slashed her across her stomach. She telepathically cried out in pain and went somersaulting through the air before righting herself. We saw, to our relief, that the damage looked rather minor.

Brandon then said angrily, "I'm going to help her." He then opened his mouth to give a command to one of his Pokemon, but then Deoxys stopped him.

"This is Mesprit's fight," he said. "Don't interfere."

Brandon didn't say anything for a moment, until finally he nodded. "All right."

We returned our attention to the battle.

Mesprit's eyes glowed purple, but again nothing happened. Honchkrow's wings were covered with the black haze again, and it flew at Mesprit.

Mesprit didn't move, even as Honchkrow flew toward her. Then, when it was only a few feet away, her eyes flashed white, and Honchkrow slammed against an invisible wall. The black haze dissipated as it flapped frantically to try to stay in the air.

"Honchkrow, use Dark Pulse."

Honchkrow's eyes glowed black, and it flapped its wings towards Mesprit, as if it were trying to blow her away. But instead a wave of black light spread from its wings and raced toward Mesprit. Again, Mesprit's eyes glowed white, and the light vanished.

Then a purple ball of light appeared above Honchkrow and slammed into it, sending it to the ground. Mesprit's eyes glowed purple once again, but nothing happened, like before.

Honchkrow picked itself up off the ground and flapped its wings towards Mesprit again without taking off, sending more black waves toward her. As the wave raced toward her, Mesprit's eyes flashed white again.

But this time the black light didn't hit an invisible barrier, and instead it hit Mesprit as she cried out in surprise. She fell to the ground and began to unsteadily get back to her feet.

Honchkrow and Mesprit were both on the ground now, and it looked like Mesprit was the most weakened. I realized that she must not have been fully recovered from that beam the Galactics had used to knock her out.

"Finish it off with Night Slash, Honchkrow."

Honchkrow walked up to Mesprit and raised a wing. The wing began to be covered in a dark haze. Mesprit looked up and her eyes widened, and she floated up into the air above Honchkrow. Honchkrow jumped after her and swung the wing, as Mesprit's eyes flashed with a white light again.

Honchkrow's wing connected with Mesprit, sending her flying in an arc towards the ground with another slash mark, this time across her face. She was unconscious before she hit the stone floor. Brandon cried out in concern and Deoxys's eyes widened.

Then, a purple ball of light flew into Honchkrow from behind, knocking it to the floor as well and also rendering it unconscious. We stared in shock at the two limp Pokemon. Cyrus recalled his Honchkrow.

Then he took out another Poke Ball and threw it at Mesprit. Mesprit regained her senses in time to see it coming at her, and her eyes widened. She raised her arms as if to block it.

The Poke Ball hit Mesprit, and she disappeared in a flash of light. The Poke Ball fell to the stones, and after a moment it began to rock violently back and forth. Everyone watched it intently.

After a few seconds, it stopped moving.

Brandon, Deoxys and I watched in shock as Cyrus stepped forward and picked it up. Then he said, emotionless as ever, "Mesprit is now mine, as well."


	38. Red Chain

Chapter 38 – Red Chain

**Chapter 38 – Red Chain**

A Galactic stepped toward Cyrus and took Mesprit's Poke Ball out of his hands. He stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

Then the Galactic released Mesprit from the Poke Ball. Mesprit fell limply to the ground. The Galactic then wordlessly threw the Poke Ball to the ground and stomped on it, shattering it. After that, she looked at Cyrus and giggled.

Cyrus took out another Poke Ball as we all stared in surprise. He released a Pokemon from it that had a small purple body, four leathery blue wings, yellow eyes, and two prominent ears. He pointed at the offending Galactic.

"Crobat, use Poison Fang."

Crobat darted towards the Galactic, who jumped out of the way. Then she began to glow, changing back into Mew.

Mew giggled. "I fooled you!"

Crobat lunged towards Mew again, and she flipped out of the way. Then Cyrus gave his Pokemon a different command.

"Crobat, use Mean Look."

Crobat's eyes flashed red, and it glared at Mew. Mew instantly froze.

"Now use Poison Fang."

Crobat then approached Mew. Deoxys flew into the air, chest crystal glowing. Then Crobat opened its mouth, revealing several sharp fangs, and bit down.

Crobat opened its mouth again and looked around confusedly as it realized that Mew was no longer there. A short distance away, Mew rematerialized and giggled.

Then Crobat was knocked out of the air by a white-hot beam of light, originating from Deoxys's crystal. Crobat fell to the ground, limp. Cyrus recalled it.

Then, he looked at us impassively. "You may think you have prevented me from reaching my goal of a perfect world. But you're wrong."

He took out four red gems and held them in his hand. He gazed at them, without changing his expression. "I've figured it out. The power does not reside in the links." Deoxys, Mew, Brandon, Rayquaza, and I stared at him. "The power resides… in me."

Then the gem Brandon was holding flew from his hand and into Cyrus's. He gave a cry of surprise and dismay. Cyrus continued talking in a monotone, as if he didn't notice. "I have always held the power, we always have. All humans hold the power to be gods."

The gem Deoxys held in his left hand then flew out to join Brandon's and all the others. He telepathically cried out in surprise. Then we realized that Cyrus had all of the links of the red chain. What was causing them to come to him?

"Power is attracted to power," Cyrus went on. "The only power of the chain is to unlock that which is within the holder." Then the gems floated from his hand and into the air. They formed a circle as we all watched, stunned. The circle slowly began to close, until all the red gems touched each other at the same moment. There was a bright flash of red light, and we looked away.

When we looked back, Cyrus was holding in his hand a chain of six small red gems, somehow attached to each other but able to move freely. The red chain.

He looked at it, then back up at us, then he turned his gaze to the sky.

"And thus begins my reign over this world." Then, as we watched in horror, the red chain sank into his hand, disappearing without a trace. Cyrus closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, he opened them again. Brandon gasped and the rest of us backed up. Cyrus's eyes were glowing red.

"Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, emerge," he said in a strange, echoing voice.

We spun around as the three metal spheres behind us began to shake. Then they exploded, vaporized, and we saw what had been occupying them.

We had already seen Giratina. But the other two huge creatures that now stood before us were completely unfamiliar.

One was mostly dark blue, with light blue patterns on its skin. It stood on four thick legs and had a long neck. Its head had a crest that extended back some, and it also had grey, metallic parts to it. Each of its feet had three metal claws, and on its back was a large metal fan-like object. A thick tail extended back, though it wasn't very long compared to the size of the rest of the creature's body. On its chest, below its neck, was a large, gray, metallic plate. In the middle of this plate glowed a blue gem, and in its face glowed two red eyes.

The other was mostly light pink, with some white and darker pink patterns running across it. It stood on its hind legs, and it had two clawed arms for its other limbs. Its long neck extended forward, and on top of its head was a thin crest that went all the way down its neck. On its back, two huge white wings extended to the sides. It also had a thick tail that was about as long as the blue creature's. On each shoulder was a pink disc, and in the center of each of these disks, partially hidden, was a large, glowing, pink sphere. Two glowing red eyes stared from its face, like those of the other two creatures.

All three creatures turned toward Cyrus. He stared up at them with his flashing red eyes. "Eliminate all opposition to my new reign."


	39. When Three Are One

**Chapter 39 – When Three are One**

The three creatures slowly nodded. We stared up in horror at them.

Then Rayquaza launched a white-hot beam from his mouth at the blue one. It took the attack but didn't seem fazed. All three then turned towards Rayquaza.

Cyrus turned to the crowd of Galactics who looked like they didn't know whether to be happy or afraid. "Leave. You are not needed now."

They quickly poured into the cave opening that he had come through, leaving only Deoxys, Brandon, Mew, Rayquaza, the unconscious Mesprit, and me with the three Cosmo Pokemon and their new master.

Cyrus turned to the pink creature. "Palkia, destroy Rayquaza."

The pink one, which I supposed was Palkia, turned to Cyrus. It stared at him and hesitated for a moment. Then it nodded and said in a voice that wasn't completely telepathy or sound, "As you wish." I thought I detected a hint of sadness in its voice, and this gave me hope that maybe Cyrus didn't have total control over them after all.

Then Palkia turned back to Rayquaza and launched a blue orb at it from its mouth, knocking it back several feet and causing it to screech in pain. Palkia spread its wings and flapped them, rising into the air. Rayquaza saw this and took off after Palkia.

"Dialga, destroy them." Cyrus pointed at us. All of our eyes widened, and Deoxys's chest crystal started glowing, while Mew began to form a blue orb between her arms.

Dialga, the blue one, hesitated, then nodded and spoke. Its voice was deeper than Palkia's. "Yes."

Then Dialga turned to us and, with loud stomps that shook the Spear Pillar, approached us slightly. Brandon took a step backwards, and his Pokemon surrounded him and also prepared various attacks.

Then Dialga opened its mouth, and was promptly struck by first Deoxys's white beam, and then by Mew's blue orb. The first didn't faze it, but the second knocked it back a few feet and caused it to close its mouth.

Deoxys glanced at Mew, slightly surprised, and she giggled and began charging up another one.

"Dagan, Earthquake! Budd, Razor Leaf! Ara, Weather Ball! Kalani, Close Combat! Halle, Magnitude!"

Brandon shouted out orders to his Pokemon, and they began launching their various attacks. Dagan reared up and smashed his forelegs into the ground, causing a tremor that made all of us (who were on the ground) stumble slightly, but Dialga lost its footing and crashed to the ground. Then Budd launched leaves from his roses (hands) that flew at Dialga, but they all simply bounced off.

Ara launched a white sphere at Dialga, but it simply dissipated against the skin of the larger Pokemon, which was in the process of standing back up. Then Kalani flew in close to Dialga and began to smash her forelegs and beak against the metal plate on its chest. Surprisingly, I saw dents appear in the metal. Dialga roared and swatted Kalani away with its tail, and she went sailing in an arc through the air. Brandon quickly recalled her before she hit the ground.

Then Dialga managed to get back up all the way, only to stumble and fall again as Halle hit all four of his arms against the ground, causing the stone floor of the Spear Pillar to shake and crack under the blue Pokemon. It was more localized than Dagan's attack, so luckily it didn't make the rest of us fall.

Dialga then opened its mouth and roared. The roar echoed around the Spear Pillar and caused it to begin shaking. Suddenly, all of Brandon's Pokemon, except for Ara, curiously, began to glow and change, growing smaller…

Then the glow faded, and Brandon gasped. "What? They're unevolved now!"

We all stared. Dagan now resembled a tiny green creature with a brown shell on its back, and a small plant on top of that. Wobbl was a tiny blue blob with a knob sticking out of its forehead, two long arms, a dress-like thing, and a huge smile. Halle was now a rock with two arms and a face. Budd was a small green and yellow pod-like thing, with no arms and two stubby legs.

Then Dialga launched a blue orb at Brandon. Brandon jumped out of the way just in time.

Suddenly there was a loud thud, and Palkia and Rayquaza both crashed to the ground between Giratina and Cyrus, who had been watching Dialga battle with us. Palkia's arms were squeezing Rayquaza's neck, while Rayquaza's long body was also wrapped around Palkia. We all watched for a moment as they struggled, roaring and screeching angrily.

Then Dialga stood up, and we returned our attention to the blue Cosmo Pokemon. Mew launched her blue sphere, striking it and sending it stumbling backwards slightly. Then the large orange, yellow, and green bird that had just arrived realized the situation and smashed into Dialga.

I recognized it as Ho-Oh, the bird that Brandon and I had seen after leaving Lake Valor. Ho-Oh battered Dialga back with its huge wings, and then launched a green flame from its mouth, striking Dialga and causing it to stumble backwards slightly. Dialga roared again, and the roar echoed around the mountaintop, shaking the stones like before.

Then all of Brandon's Pokemon (except for Ara) glowed again and regained their true forms. Brandon smiled in relief, then recalled them.

Behind us, Mesprit woke up. She looked around confusedly. "What's going on?" Then she saw Cyrus standing in front of Giratina, Palkia fighting Rayquaza, and Dialga fighting Ho-Oh, and realized what was going on. "Oh, that's bad."

Then she looked at Cyrus and remembered something. "Wait, didn't he catch me?"

Mew nodded. "Yes, but I rescued you."

Mesprit sighed and nodded with relief. "Oh, good. Thanks, Mew."

Mew giggled. "You're welcome."

Then we all turned back and watched the four legendaries fight, not wanting to attack for fear of hitting Rayquaza or Ho-Oh.

"Hey, we heard we were supposed to come here, but we weren't expecting this," Azelf said behind us. We turned in surprise.

Behind us floated Azelf and Uxie, and behind them were several more figures. Many were familiar: Latios, Latias, Celebi, Cresselia, and Darkrai. But there were four others that weren't familiar.

All of them were bird-like. The first was large and blue. Hovering next to it was a yellow and black bird, and next to that was a yellow bird that appeared to be on fire. The last one was larger and was mostly white with dark blue horns above its eyes, and a light blue stomach. On its back were attached several dark blue things, and its long white tail had dark blue spikes on the end. Its stomach was light blue.

Celebi floated forward. "I was told to go get all of them and bring them here, so here we are. And," she added, glancing at the battle beyond us, "it looks like just in time."

Latios glanced at Latias. "Hey, your boyfriend's here."

Latias reddened. "How many times do I have to tell you that—"

The large white bird turned to them and said in a telepathic voice, "This isn't the time for that. Argue after we clean this mess up."

Latias glared at Latios. "All right, Lugia, but afterwards…" She left the threat hanging. Latios snickered.

Azelf and Uxie floated down to Mesprit. She looked at them. "You took your time getting here."

Azelf didn't seem fazed. "We came as fast as we could after Celebi told us to."

Uxie nodded. "You know it takes a while to travel that distance."

Mesprit relented. "Okay. We need your help. Cyrus is—"

Uxie interrupted. "I know what "Cyrus is". I told them all about it on the way."

Azelf nodded, then turned to the others. "Get Cyrus!"

All of the Pokemon dived at Cyrus. He looked up at them calmly. Then, Giratina appeared in front of him, smashing its wings into Lugia. All of the others stopped and simply hovered, surprised. Mew and Deoxys joined them, while Brandon and I watched from the back.

Rayquaza suddenly was sent flying, smashing through several pillars and staying still once he stopped moving. Palkia turned to the group of Pokemon hovering in front of Giratina.

Then Dialga hit Ho-Oh with its tail, sending Ho-Oh smashing into Palkia. With a roar from Palkia and a screech from Ho-Oh, both fell over the edge of Spear Pillar and out of sight.

No one moved for several seconds, staring at the spot where they had disappeared. Suddenly, there was a noise of large wings flapping, and Palkia emerged, landing back on the stone floor of the Spear Pillar. We all waited for Ho-Oh to rise after it, but nothing else came back up.

Then all of the Pokemon began to fight with each other. It was Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina against Mew, Deoxys, Latios, Latias, Lugia, the three birds, Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit, and Celebi. Considering that they were outnumbered, the three Cosmo Pokemon put up an exceptional fight, and it soon became clear that the battle was even.

After a few minutes Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie suddenly left the melee, and hovered over to Brandon and me. They looked battered but had no serious injuries. Brandon looked up at them, not sure what to expect. I was also unsure what caused them to leave.

"The battle is evenly matched," Uxie said, a fact we had already observed. Brandon nodded uncertainly.

Then Azelf spoke. "We need something to tip the balance."

Mesprit quickly put in her piece. "And we think we figured out what it is."

Brandon stared at them, uncomprehending. I did likewise. Uxie pointed at Cyrus, who watched the battle impassively through his glowing red eyes. "He has fused with the chain of gems, the red chain. But that chain has no or little power. I know that now."

Azelf spoke again. "We talked a little during the battle, and we came to realize something."

Mesprit finished. "That isn't the red chain that Cyrus has. What all of us believed isn't true." She pointed at herself, then at Azelf and Uxie. "We _are_ the red chain, together, with the power to calm the three Legendary Cosmo Pokemon. The only reason they're obeying Cyrus is because they _think_ he has the chain with the power to control them."


	40. One Will Come

Chapter 40 – One Will Come

**Chapter 40 – One Will Come**

Brandon stared at them. "You mean the things we went so far out of our way to get are useless?!" I mentally agreed with him, though I didn't voice (or broadcast) my thoughts.

Uxie nodded. "Yes."

"Even we didn't realize until now," Azelf said ruefully.

Then they floated back towards the battle a distance and began to glow red. The battle instantly stopped as everyone turned to stare at them, and I saw that the fire bird Pokemon had fallen to the ground along with Rayquaza. The rest of the battlers simply watched Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie.

They arranged into a circle, facing a center point, and stretched out their tails towards each other. Their tails touched, and there was a flash of light. Cyrus stiffened with discomfort, and I saw his eyes turn back to their normal black and white color. Then he opened his mouth, and the chain of red gems flew out towards the three hovering Pokemon. He immediately fell to the ground, unconscious.

But then everyone's attention was focused on Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie again, as the gems separated and spread out, reattaching themselves to their rightful places on the ends of their tails. Then the tails, where they touched each other, seemed to melt and fuse together, effectively forming a chain. The three Pokemon, still glowing red, floated over to where Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina watched.

The three Cosmo Pokemon moved together, as if the motion was rehearsed, and the glowing red chain of Pokemon descended, tails lengthening strangely as they surrounded them. Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf then began to spin around Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. All of the other Pokemon moved back.

The large gems on the foreheads of the spinning Pokemon began to glow red as the rest of their bodies faded back to their normal colors. The red from the gems blurred together as they spun faster, until the red ring began to close inwards towards the Cosmo Pokemon. Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie suddenly stopped spinning and separated, collapsing to the ground. But the red ring of glowing light continued to contract, until at the same moment, it touched Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

They absorbed it and flashed red, momentarily blinding everyone. When we could see again, the glowing had stopped, and the three Cosmo Pokemon stood there, looking the same as before.

They looked around at everyone. Then Palkia said, "Cyrus is gone."

When we looked at the spot where Cyrus had been, he was nowhere to be found.

Then the sun rose.

.

Giratina opened his mouth, and a ball of blackness floated out. It slowly lowered down to the floor of the Spear Pillar, then the darkness dissipated, revealing a small blue object lying there. It was long and had lots of holes in it.

"The Azure Flute will allow you to gain entrance to the Hall of Origin, where our master waits," Dialga said. "Play it."

Brandon nodded, bent down and picked up the Azure Flute. He brought it to his mouth and blew into it. A haunting melody emerged, made even more mysterious by the fact that Brandon was doing nothing to change the pitch of the noise. The melody made me feel like I was missing something, while at the same time becoming closer to whatever it was that was missing. It was like listening to words rather than music, but the words were spoken in such a way that you couldn't understand them, though you always afterwards wanted to. Eventually, the song ended, and the last notes echoed away. Brandon took the Azure Flute from his mouth.

"Now break it," Palkia told him. Brandon's eyes widened, for it was a beautiful thing that played an even more beautiful song. But then he nodded and threw it to the ground, smashing it into many pieces. The pieces scattered, and then mysteriously disappeared.

There was a bright flash, and we were all forced to avert our eyes. After a few seconds, when we could see again, a shining white staircase reached up from where we were standing and into the heavens. It disappeared from sight far above.

Brandon stepped onto the first stair, and then his figure blurred and disappeared. My eye widened in surprise.

"You next, Orian," Dialga told me.

I approached the stairs and began to float up them. As soon as I was above the first step, my vision blurred, as if the air were bending around me. After a few seconds, I could see correctly, and if I had a mouth I would have gasped.

I was floating at the entrance to a long white hall, which sparkled and shined and almost blinded me. There were no walls, but above me there was a ceiling made of the same material as the floor. Both were transparent and I could vaguely see the Spear Pillar through the floor. The sun shined down through the ceiling, and both surfaces were covered with strange markings, similar to those on the Spear Pillar, only these seemed much older.

At the far end of the hall, I saw, strangely out of place, four small gray objects. But I couldn't tell what they were from this distance.

Then I turned and noticed Brandon next to me, just as enthralled as I was. Behind him, the staircase I and he had apparently come up stretched downwards.

There was a blur on the stairs, and Deoxys appeared next to me. He looked around in wonder. Then Mew also appeared. She giggled.

"You like it?" she asked, giggling some more. Then I noticed that she hadn't spoken with her mind like she normally did; she had actually moved her mouth.

"You talked," I pointed out, and then realized that my words hadn't come out as a broadcast, but as sound. I wasn't sure where on my body they were emitted from, though.

Mew laughed. "Here, everyone can understand each other," she said simply, then cartwheeled out of the way as Dialga entered.

We all moved out of the way and watched as, one by one, all of the Pokemon who had been at the Spear Pillar entered the Hall of Origin. Soon, we all stood there together: Mew, Celebi, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Latios, Latias, Moltres (the fire bird), Articuno (the blue bird), Zapdos (the yellow and black bird), Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Cresselia, Darkrai, Rayquaza, Brandon, and me.

Then a loud, rumbling, commanding, and vaguely familiar voice said from the far end of the Hall, "Come forward."

I noticed that at the sound of the voice all of the other Pokemon stiffened, besides Brandon, Deoxys, and me. Brandon and Deoxys looked like I probably did, confused and somewhat apprehensive.

All of us approached the far end of the hall slowly. Once we got there, I saw that the metal objects I had seen were in actuality large metal chains, attached to thick metal rings. The ends of the chains were attached to the floor, and the rings were, strangely, floating in midair.

All of the other Pokemon bowed, and after a moment, Brandon and Deoxys followed suit. I stayed where I was, considering I wasn't that flexible.

Then two eyes appeared in the air above the chains before us. They were large, and they were glowing red and green. The strange thing was, they didn't appear to be attached to anything, unlike all of the other eyes I had seen in this world.

The voice spoke again, coming from the air under the eyes. "Palkia, what is your report?"

Palkia took a step forward, and the rest of us moved backwards slightly. I noticed that Palkia appeared slightly nervous, fidgeting with his wings. He took a breath and then started talking.

"Dialga and I were… captured by the man Cyrus's machines, and then he tried to control us with the red chain…" He trailed off, apparently realizing exactly how pathetic his story was.

The eyes stared at him. "What happened to this 'Cyrus'?"

Palkia swallowed. "He escaped… sir."

The eyes flashed, and Palkia took a step backwards. "You were first captured by a mere human, then frightened into doing his bidding by the supposed power of the red chain, and then you tell me that he escaped?! You have failed."

Palkia cringed. Then the voice spoke again. "Giratina, what is your report on your task?"

Palkia moved backwards to rejoin the crowd, looking very relieved. Giratina stepped forward to replace him, looking on the other hand very nervous.

Giratina looked down at the floor and began in his low, somber voice. "I was similarly captured by this Cyrus, before I could complete my task…"

The voice became louder, and the eyes flashed angrily. "You failed to do even one simple task! You could not even free Palkia and Dialga before you were also captured by this human!" Giratina flinched.

The eyes then turned to the assorted crowd and glared at various members of it in turn. "You have all failed many times during this test! First, it was Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit, who failed to protect their charges. Then Mew, who disobeyed my orders and did not return immediately. Then Darkrai, who did not stop to think before administering punishments. Then Cresselia, who acted against my orders to another before contacting me. And after that, Celebi, who had contact with Mew and spoke of private matters without my permission. And finally, when you fought amongst yourselves before contacting me!"

Everyone in the crowd flinched. The voice continued. "There are only three here who have not failed, but that is only because they are the only ones who do not report directly to me!"

There was a silence for a second, before the voice spoke again, this time more calmly. "I designed this scenario to test all of you, to see if you would pass or fail. You have failed. I have made my decision. I will destroy this world, and remake it."

There was another silence as everyone tried to understand that statement. Then suddenly Palkia said, "You cannot do that! The Ancient Law restricts it!"

The eyes looked downwards and a chain rattled. "These? There is a way to break that Law."

Dialga spoke up. "Yes, but that's…" Then he looked around and paled. Palkia and Giratina also turned pale, and I saw Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf widen their eyes. Everyone else looked shocked.

The voice spoke again. "When three are one, one will come…" Then Palkia, Giratina, Dialga, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie began to glow white.


	41. From One Will Be None

Chapter 41 – From One Will Be None

**Chapter 41 – From One Will Be None**

Palkia's wings spread and flapped, but he didn't move off the ground. Then his body turned completely white, and dissolved into small white glowing points. The light flew towards the eyes and was absorbed.

Then, Dialga's body also broke apart and was absorbed into the eyes. Giratina followed suit. Once they were absorbed, there was a flash of light and, behind the eyes and a little closer to the floor, was a large golden wheel with arcs in various patterns. It floated in the air.

Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie flew toward the stairs leading downwards. They were about halfway there when their bodies broke apart as well. I thought I heard a cry of dismay from Mesprit, and then the glowing white dots that were left were absorbed into the floating red and green eyes.

Another flash followed, brighter than the last, and when we could see again, a body was attached to the eyes and wheel.

It had glowing white and black fur, most of it white with the black on its underside and face. There were four legs, and one golden hoof on each. On its forehead above its black face was a golden object, and two white, triangular ears were beyond that. Extending back from its head was a long crest, covered with white fur on the top and black on the bottom. It had a short black and white tail. Around its middle, between its front legs and back legs, was the golden wheel that had appeared earlier. Around each leg was one of the large metal rings with the chains attached to them. Its face was curiously obscure, and not many details could be gleaned from it, except for the red and green eyes that stared out from it.

We all stared in shock, some for different reasons than others. The creature spoke again, in the same deep, rumbling voice.

"When three are one, one will come, and from one will be none…"

Then the metal chains shattered. The rings around the creature's legs flashed white once and disappeared. The creature stepped forward and suddenly seemed to grow to an alarming size, dwarfing even Rayquaza, though the dimensions of the Hall in relation to its occupants didn't change. Everyone backed up.

"I am the original and the last, the light and the shadow, the moon and the Earth, the sun and all the stars. I am the bringer of life and of destruction, the one who formed this world from the chaos of its origins. I am ARCEUS!!"

The last word was a roar, and a shockwave spread out from the creature's head, sending all of us flying backwards to the other end of the Hall of Origin. We picked ourselves up and watched as Arceus approached, taking small steps with his golden hooves but traveling faster than it seemed possible. He stood before us and loomed over us.

"The end of this chapter is at hand, the Ancient Law that bound me at this world's birth is broken."

Arceus roared, a strange noise with lots of beeping and other noises involved. But this time, there was no shockwave. After the noise ended, Arceus gazed up at the stars that, strangely, were there, though it was daytime.

The others looked up and several gasped. For then the sun rose. A few seconds later, it set again. I stared uncomprehendingly as the sun began to fly from the east to the west repeatedly, going faster each time, until it was a blur, a yellow streak across the sky. Then it began to expand and grow red, until it filled the sky and we felt its heat scorching us. The next second it shrank again, but also darkened, until it became a small point in the sky and disappeared.

"The end of this world has come," Arceus said, voice reverberating around the Hall of Origin.

"No! You can't do this!" Brandon cried. He took out a Poke Ball. "I'll try to stop you, even if I can't! I won't just watch as you destroy everything!"

His words acted as a wake-up call for everyone there, even if the next second his Poke Ball and backpack disappeared, leaving him staring and blinking. We all turned to Arceus, and everyone glared.

"He's right! We can't just sit here!" shouted Articuno.

Then, Arceus was hit by several different attacks of varying types and colors. When they stopped, Arceus stared at us. "You cannot destroy me or stop me. I have decided, and I am executing my choice."

He looked upwards, and then a massive beam of light exploded from his body, traveling first upwards and then arcing down towards us.

I saw that we were the only ones who had a chance at stopping him, and if that beam hit, it could take out all of us. So I did the only thing I could.

As if time slowed down, I floated upwards into the path of the ray of light that was coming down on us. I activated my attack.

Light pulsed from my body as the ray struck me. My attack hit the beam and scattered much of Arceus's attack, but most of it was absorbed into me.

I looked down at everyone else and saw Brandon, Mew, Deoxys, and all the rest of my friends in this world, staring in shock at me. Then my body dissolved.


	42. When All Are One

Chapter 42 – When All Are One

**Chapter 42 – When All Are One**

Everyone watched, shocked, as Orian disintegrated into shining white particles that drifted away and disappeared, as if blown by a wind. After a second, Arceus spoke from behind the crowd.

"This was a foolish act. This world will be destroyed, and I cannot be stopped. What is the point of attempting to survive further?"

Everyone spun to see Arceus coming up the stairs behind them. Then they turned and saw Arceus in front of them.

"Why do you attempt to defy me?" Arceus said from the right. Then, from the left, "What drives you?"

The group of Pokemon and one human looked around, confused, as they were surrounded by Arceus. Then one Arceus said, "The Ancient Law is broken, and I am now the most powerful being in this world. Soon, this universe will end, and I will make another, better one."

All the Arceus then roared at the sunless sky. Everyone instinctively turned to the sky, and gasped.

Stars dotted the night sky, spread across like the splattered paint of an artist. Then, a star disappeared. Another star disappeared on the other side of the sky, and then a third until all the thousands of stars were disappearing rapidly.

Mew suddenly cried out, "Hope drives us!" She sent a blue orb flying at the nearest Arceus, who stumbled slightly and readjusted his footing. Then all the Pokemon, when they saw this, began to attack that one Arceus. None of the Arceus moved while this was happening.

After a minute of constant attack, the one Arceus fell and disappeared in a flash of light. A rumble shook the Hall of Origin, throwing everyone to the floor.

Then, once they got back up, they all looked around, and saw that the other Arceus were still there. A few groaned, and Latias asked in despair, "Which is the real one?"

Several Arceus fixed her with a glare, and one replied, "What is real? All of me are real. The Ancient Law is broken. Do you think there were Laws of Physics before the universe existed? I do not follow the ones that exist now, for I am their writer and the one to break them down." Latias gulped.

The Arceus all then spread apart. "If it is hope that you have, then I will not deny it to you. Attempt to defeat me, and this world will see one last battle."

Then the battle to decide the fate of the universe began.

The Pokemon began attacking random Arceus, not focusing on one but instead sending their attacks towards whichever one was closer. Brandon stood in the middle of the arena and, deprived of his Pokemon, simply watched and dodged any stray attacks.

Darkrai sent a glowing pulse of darkness at an Arceus, and when it hit, Arceus stumbled backwards a foot. Darkrai laughed.

"That's what you get for what you did to me!"

The next second, Arceus launched a beam at him, which he dodged. Then, Cresselia bumped into him while backing away from another Arceus's attack.

"Hello, nice to see you again, even if you are so nasty to everyone."

Darkrai floated away huffily. "I am—!"

Then Cresselia flew into him, knocking him out of the path of another white beam. She then glanced at him as he regained his bearings. "I just saved your life."

Darkrai glared at her. "Well, thank you, but I don't need help."

He then floated off to continue his battle.

Moltres sent a jet of fire at Arceus. Arceus jumped out of the way, growing smaller, and then leaped up at Moltres. Before he had time to react, the fire bird was sent crashing to the floor.

Articuno saw and flew over. "Moltres! Are you all right?"

He got to his feet, cringing, and looked at her. "No, I'm not, but I can live with it."

Then he took off, leaving Articuno to stare worriedly after him, only to return her attention to the battle when a spout of lava exploded from the ground right next to her.

Latios and Latias both sent purple pulses of light at the same Arceus, watching as it flinched. Then Arceus countered, sending a shock wave from its mouth at them. They both dodged, then their eyes glowed. Arceus was surrounded by a purple glow and lifted into the air. Then it roared, and the purple glow disappeared, allowing Arceus to float back to the ground. Arceus then fired a white beam at them, which they dodged, but then immediately fired another straight at Latias, who didn't have time to react.

Latios cried out, and Latias closed her eyes. But the impact never came. She opened her eyes again and saw Rayquaza in front of her, countering the beam with his own. "Rayquaza!"

Latios snickered, but then immediately felt sorry as the next second Rayquaza's beam gave out. Rayquaza was hit by Arceus's beam and sent flying past Latias. She spun and cried out.

Rayquaza crashed into the floor of the Hall of Origin and lay there for a moment, stunned. Then he looked at Latias wearily and said, "You were worth it…" The next second, his body dissolved into tiny points of light and faded away.

"No!" Latias cried. Tears began to flow, and then Latios was in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Latias, but he didn't save you just so you could cry and get killed too!"

Latias looked up at her brother with tear-filled eyes. Then she blinked to clear them. "You're right."

Latios and Latias flew off to continue the fight.

Celebi closed her eyes and concentrated. She began to glow, and then leaves began to enter the Hall of Origin through the absent walls and circle around Arceus. The Arceus that she was focusing on looked around as the leaves began to close in on him, then he said, "I am the Original One! I cannot be defeated!"

All the leaves caught fire as magma erupted from the floor of the Hall underneath them. The flaming leaves then began to fly outwards in all directions, and Celebi ended up having to dodge her own attack. Then Lugia was there, flapping his wings to send all of the leaves back, a few hitting Arceus but most simply falling out of the Hall.

He glanced back at her and said wryly, "I thought you were supposed to protect _against_ forest fires."

She glared at him. "I am. Let's take care of the arsonist now!"

Lugia nodded and flapped his wings, sending gusts of air at Arceus and making it stumble backward a foot. Then Celebi's eyes flashed, and glowing boulders appeared in the air around her, flying at Arceus. Arceus was unprepared after Lugia's attack and was knocked backwards. Then he was hit by a pulse of darkness and, with a flash of light and a loud rumble, disappeared.

Lugia and Celebi glanced at the direction where the attack had come from, and saw Darkrai waving at them. "Revenge really is sweet!" he laughed, before floating away.

Mew launched another sphere of blue light at an Arceus, having discovered that it worked very well. The aforementioned Arceus flinched and then jumped toward her.

Mew flew out of the way, and Arceus went sailing past her, only to land on the floor of the Hall and then immediately turn and shoot toward her at a frightening speed. Mew barely dodged, and began charging up another blue orb. But she didn't have time to launch it before Arceus fired at beam of light at her.

She was forced to allow her attack to dissipate in order to dodge Arceus's, which blazed by her. Then Arceus was surrounded by a purple aura and lifted into the air.

Mew looked around and saw Deoxys nearby, eyes glowing. She smiled and floated over to him. "Deoxys! What—"

Then Deoxys's eyes abruptly stopped glowing, and he spun to face her, crying out, "Mew, look out!"

Mew turned and saw Arceus speeding toward her. She tried to float out of the way, but Arceus had already been too close before she had noticed. She winced and waited for the hit.

But then Deoxys was between Arceus and her, eyes flashing. The purple aura surrounded Arceus again, and he froze in midair.

Deoxys and Arceus stared at each other for a moment, before Arceus broke free and smashed into Deoxys. There was a sickening crunching noise as Deoxys flew backwards into Mew and they crashed to the floor.

For a few seconds, Mew lay underneath Deoxys, stunned. Then she recovered her senses and struggled out from underneath him. He didn't move.

Mew gazed at him in concern, and gasped as she saw that a long and deep crack ran across his chest crystal. His eyes were closed.

Mew picked up his head and cradled it. "Deoxys, wake up!"

Deoxys woke, and he looked up at her through clouded and unfocused eyes. "Mew…"

Mew began to cry. "Deoxys, you'll be alright, don't worry…"

Deoxys glanced down at his chest and resignedly shook his head. "No… I don't think so…"

"Yes, you will, don't say that," Mew pleaded.

Deoxys continued to look up at her. "Back at Lake Acuity… you were willing to sacrifice your life to save mine… Now… I'm returning the favor…" His voice became gradually softer as he spoke.

Mew shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "No, don't leave me!" Her words echoed those she spoke while being tormented by Darkrai, only now she added three more words. "I love you!"

Deoxys closed his eyes. "I love you, too, and I always will…"

Then he stiffened. A loud crack, and then a shattering noise were heard as the gem in his chest shattered. Then his body slowly turned into white glowing dust and blew away.


	43. None Will Be All

Chapter 43 – None Will Be All

**Chapter 43 – None Will Be All**

The Hall of Origin became silent. Everyone, including the many Arceus, stared at Mew, sitting in the center of the Hall and crying silently. Then a bright flash filled the Hall.

The flash of white light was brighter than all of the others, yet it didn't cause them to close their eyes or look away. The light bathed over all of them, coming from an unseen source. Nothing was visible through the light. Nothing existed except the light.

Finally it faded away, after what felt like an eternity. Everyone looked around, blinking. All of the Arceus were gone, except for one.

A voice spoke, the tone and sound strangely indistinguishable. The source of it was unseen. "When three are one, one will come, and from one will be none. But when all are one, none will be all…"

Arceus looked up at the ceiling of the Hall. "Why do you interfere?" he asked simply.

The voice came again. "The time has not yet come. Many more lives must be made and lived and ended, and many heroes must rise and fall before the time will come."

Arceus didn't move. "The Ancient Law is broken. I have all power. You cannot interfere."

"The Ancient Law has been broken, but the First Law still holds sway. The sacrifice of the lives of three for the sake of others shall hold the power to reforge the Ancient Law. When three are one, one will come… and none will be all."

Arceus stared for a moment longer, then he dropped his gaze to the floor. "I submit."

Arceus's body then began to break apart. It slowly dissolved into tiny points of light that spread out and circled around the Hall of Origin, moving faster and faster as Arceus's body lost more of its matter. Finally, the sight of all the Pokemon and the one human was obscured by the intensifying light.

Suddenly, the light died down and ended. When it did, everyone present saw six forms lying prone on the transparent floor of the Hall: Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

At the far end of the Hall of Origin, Arceus's two glowing red and green eyes floated. Underneath them, the Hall shook as four chains emerged from the floor, reaching upwards slightly, and then four metal bands formed at their ends, hanging in the air. The eyes stared out at the amassed group of Pokemon and the lone human for a moment longer, and then disappeared.

Everyone else stared in wonder. What had happened?

Then a bright flash filled the Hall of Origin once again, and for a moment vision was impossible. Then, when they could see again, everyone present saw three forms lying in front of the floating chains.

One was a huge green creature with a long and thin body and yellow markings. To its left was a much smaller red and green form, with two tentacles on each side and two pointy legs with no feet. To its left was an even smaller blue creature, composed of several arcs and lines, and with one large eye, currently closed in sleep.

Brandon felt a weight on his back, and realized that he was wearing his backpack, with all of his Pokemon in their Poke Balls inside.

The next second, stars began to fill the sky above the Hall, being repainted by the same artist in the same positions they had held for years, though always changing and moving and dancing. They glowed brightly, as if delighted at their return to life.

The nine forms lying on the floor woke up then, and they went to join their friends in staring at the sky wordlessly. All of them watched: Brandon, Orian, Latios, Latias, Rayquaza, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Celebi, Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Darkrai, Cresselia, Mew, and Deoxys.

For then, the sun rose once again.


	44. One Will Be One

Chapter 44 – One Will Be One

**Chapter 44 – One Will Be One**

I returned triumphantly to my own world with the two kings, Palkia and Dialga. I quickly learned that in my absence, Aaran had taken control. With the two kings on my side, however, this was easy to sort out.

I told of my adventures in the humans' world, and they were recorded. I made the others realize that although Aaran was right in some respects, that some humans sought to enslave us, there were some, like Brandon, who only wished to befriend us.

I opened up communications with the humans' world, and eventually the tension instilled by Aaran in my people toward the humans dissipated. I did not return to the humans' world, but I received many messages.

With the kings returned, I no longer had the weight of decisions of politics on me. So, while most of the political messages were turned over to them, a few were sent to me by some of the friends I had made during my time in that world.

Brandon told me that his Pokemon were growing stronger, and that he was planning to challenge the Elite Four soon. He explained that they were the trainers with the strongest Pokemon. I sent him a message in return telling him that I hoped he succeeded.

I was also sent a message by Mew about a year after I had returned. She said that she and Deoxys had been married and that she had laid an egg a month before. I was not sure what this meant, but I supposed that it was good, so I sent a message back wishing them well.

Though I never returned to the other world, I never forgot about my adventures there or the friends I made, and I am sure that none of them ever forgot either. It wasn't exactly very forgettable.

We are. We are the Unown. I am Orian, and my story is ended.

1


End file.
